22 ms·

CDC Updates, Shortens Recommended Isolation and Quarantine Period

68 points by infodocket 5y ago

qbasic_forever 5y ago
I would love to see them provide references and links to studies they are using to make these decisions. As it is this just reads almost like propaganda or a very strong, "trust us, we're the CDC". We're approaching a megadeath of Americans from COVID-19 and cannot continue on this disastrous path.
- Bombthecat 5y ago
  Checkout Dr. campbell on Youtube. He is pretty good. I like how he goes over things and explains them.
  - qbasic_forever 5y ago
    I've watched him since the start and his quality of advice has strongly declined since the pro-Ivermectin/Joe Rogan crowd started filling his comments with nonsense. He was great in March 2020 when it was clear governments were too slow to react. Nowadays he seems resigned to fatalism that "we're all just going to get it, nothing can be done".
    - timr 5y ago
      We are all going to get it. This isn't fatalism. It's just a statement of fact. It's an endemic respiratory virus with multiple animal reservoirs, and there is no vaccine that provides sterilizing immunity. Elimination is a pipe dream.
      - josephcsible 5y ago
        There are plenty of other infectious diseases that aren't eradicated but that most people never get. Why that dichotomy for this one?
        timr 5y ago
        Because those diseases have been circulating amongst the human population for thousands of years (or longer), and there is a level of population immunity that keeps large outbreaks from occurring. Also, you aren't even aware of most of the viruses you're infected with on a regular basis, because you aren't looking for them, and immunity you've built up over a lifetime reduces the severity of symptoms. For all you know, you've been infected asymptomatically / minimally symptomatically with any number of common respiratory viruses in the past year, and written it off completely. The big difference for SARS-CoV2 was that the entire global population was immunologically naive in 2020 (maybe; there's evidence for some level of immunity due to common-cold coronaviruses). This is rapidly changing.
        nradov 5y ago
        Vinay Prasad MD wrote a good explanation about why it will be impossible to avoid this virus. https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/vinay-prasad/94646 https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/vinay-prasad/94646
- iherbig 5y ago
  While I agree with both sentiments, I find the juxtaposition between the two interesting as it implies a relationship between them but they don't seem to be related at all.
- phonypc 5y ago
  Kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place. With the way case numbers are going, for everyone to strictly adhere to the old recommendations would necessitate pretty huge disruptions to essential services.
- codeddesign 5y ago
  Megadeath? That’s a little extreme considering that the death rate has been tapering for some time. On the other hand, the administration and CDC have been running propaganda the entire year, so this is nothing new. Expecting truth out of either of them about this is a lost cause.
  - iso1210 5y ago
    Current US deaths is 815k, and increasing steadilly. At this rate it will hit 1Mdeath by the end of April
    - wackro 5y ago
      Excess deaths are over 1m. See https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-tracker https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-...
    - TeeMassive 5y ago
      There is no way to know if those deaths were because or with Covid-19. Also correlation doesn't mean causation. Confinement caused a lot of hardships on people. Hell, fentanyl alone kills hundred of thousands each year, that's not even counting alcohol, other drugs, stress and solitude.
      - codeddesign 5y ago
        The hypocrisy is astounding. I don’t disagree with the numbers above, but at the same time you are absolutely right - yet downvoted and grayed out. Reminds me of Twitter and Reddit.
        TeeMassive 5y ago
        On Reddit / Twitter I would be shadow banned and downvoted by bots and bought accounts. HN really is a sanctuary IMO.
        5y ago
- prirun 5y ago
  Who needs a study? We have this! https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/23/airlines-request-to-reduce-covid-quarantine-time-wrong-move-flight-attendant-union-says.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/23/airlines-request-to-reduce-c...
Bombthecat 5y ago
Yes! The end is nigh! (in a good way :))
- pubg 5y ago
  That's not what it says at all.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
Darmody 5y ago
I really hope Omicron is the strain that turns the virus into endemic and we can live with it as we live with the flu.
- dragontamer 5y ago
  Eeehhhhh. Hard to say right now. Hospitals in my state have just activated emergency protocols, because our surge is already exceeding Winter-2020 levels. This means that 20% of surgeries are going to be cancelled, and other such care is going to be officially rationed off. (BTW: We're at 90% adults vaccinated, but "70% to 80%" of the hospitalizations are unvaccinated individuals). EDIT: To be clear: individual hospitals declare emergencies. Its not a state-wide declaration. Hospitals have begun to declare emergencies and activate hospital-specific rationing. Omicron has been a bitch so far. It seems like it is causing hospitalizations in the unvaccinated population, maybe not at the same "rate" as Delta, but in high enough numbers that we're going to run out of hospital beds in my area. ------- Elsewhere in the country... Florida's 300% rise in cases this past week has demonstrated that natural-immunity from Alpha/Delta was completely worthless vs Omicron. Florida is well on its way to having a worse surge than it ever had before. It doesn't seem like we can natural-immunity our ways out of this.
  - bonzini 5y ago
    So there are 9 times as many vaccinated people and 3 times fewer hospitalizations, that would be 1-1/27 efficacy (96% or so). Sounds like it's no worse, or possibly even better, than what was measured in the trials
  - travisgriggs 5y ago
    Curious which state you're in.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - nickff 5y ago
    >"Omicron has been a bitch so far. It seems like it is causing hospitalizations in the unvaccinated population, maybe not at the same "rate" as Delta, but in high enough numbers that we're going to run out of hospital beds in my area. " One of the problems seems to be that hospital staff are so expensive (because of their regulated monopoly) that we've been running with no spare capacity in normal times. Most other systems have 20% or more extra capacity.
pubg 5y ago
> If you: > Completed the primary series of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine over 6 months ago and are not boosted > OR Completed the primary series of J&J over 2 months ago and are not boosted > OR Are unvaccinated So vaccinations received greater than 2-6 months prior are worthless in this context (still keeps you out of the hospital, doesn't reduce transmissibility). This signals that the provided "immunity" is quite short-lived, moreso than any other vaccine I can recall. How unfortunate.
- WaxProlix 5y ago
  Yes, and with the continued prevalence of novel strains they fail to hit a moving target.
- heavyset_go 5y ago
  Flu vaccines have a similar immunity cliff. Some HIV vaccines in trials also had similar rates, where the vaccine would need to be given once to several times a year. Some viruses are adapted, or are able to mutate, to avoid immune responses relatively rapidly compared to other viruses.
- cletus 5y ago
  Are people who say this unaware of annual flu vaccines? To compare, we're still by some measures 103 years into the Spanish flu pandemic [1]. [1]: https://www.history.com/news/1918-flu-pandemic-never-ended https://www.history.com/news/1918-flu-pandemic-never-ended
- ohmanjjj 5y ago
  Pharma companies realized the money is in subscriptions. Like Adobe, why offer Photoshop for a one time sale when they can go the SaaS model and get the juicy recurring revenue. Vaccine as a service…
  - User23 5y ago
    It’s really interesting how this pandemic has got formerly cautious people all in on big pharma. You are of course correct that pharma, like all businesses, loves recurring revenue. Statins made billions and billions to just give one example. Meanwhile Gilead made a Hepatitis B cure and while it did well the first couple years, profits dropped like a rock because, well, it was a cure. Goldman Sachs even helpfully pointed out in a research note that cures are economically inferior.
yosito 5y ago
It seems that the CDC's logic is that reducing the quarantine will encourage people 1) to get tested, since 5 days of quarantine isn't as bad as 10 days and 2) to actually quarantine if they are exposed or positive. But no one is going to wear a mask for those 5 days after quarantine. You're either contagious or you're not. If you and/or others believe you're contagious, you're going to isolate. If you don't believe it, you're not going to wear a mask. No one is going to go around saying "yeah, I might still have COVID so I thought I'll still hang out with you, but I'll just wear a mask". Yeah right. And sadly, the CDC don't appear to be offering any advice or information about how long one is actually contagious, which is the information people really need to make safe and responsible decisons. Nor do they appear to be encouraging more rapid at home testing, which is really what needs to happen to start managing this virus. I spent the entire day today calling around for any kind of rapid tests anywhere in Ohio after someone from our Christmas Eve gathering fell sick. They're sold out everywhere. Was finally able to get some tests when a shipment came in to the county health department, but they were gone in a couple of hours. Meanwhile, I think Joe Biden is asleep. Why doesn't he issue an executive order and/or activate the Defense Production Act to get rapid tests to Americans now? He's had plenty of time to prepare.
- kevinavery 5y ago
  See sentence 2. > The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after.
  - yosito 5y ago
    Yes, but they don't show any data.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
lettergram 5y ago
- warning26 5y ago
- dragontamer 5y ago
  When this pandemic started, a 35-year-old family friend of mine got infected with COVID19, infected his father, and then both died. Then we couldn't attend their funeral because the devastated family was worried they would spread COVID19 to everyone else during the funeral. You can't live like normal in these social circumstances. ------- Florida's death rate has been far higher than the rest of the country due to their decision. And for what? Omicron arrives, and their "natural immunity" is falling apart like a paper tiger. "Natural immunity" gave them absolutely no protection at all.
  - disambiguation 5y ago
    > Florida's death rate has been far higher than the rest of the country due to their decision. According to CDC data, Florida and New York at this time have the same death rate. About 320 excess deaths per 100K. Re: NI, I'm baffled how this is still controversial in the US when the UK, Germany, Israel, etc. Many others recognize it as a valid alternative to vaccination. It absolutely did give them protection against severe illness just like South Africa. It's in the data.
    - dragontamer 5y ago
      This discussion has happened literally every surge. Hospitalizations lag case counts by about 1 to 2 weeks. Deaths further lag hospitalization counts by another 1 to 2 weeks. Omicron arrived in NYC weeks before it arrived in Florida. You can see it evident in the case counts. You have to wait the appropriate amount of time (ex: ~1 to 2 weeks to compare hospitalizations, and ~2 to 4 weeks to compare deaths). ------------ Omicron hasn't hit Texas yet. So in a week or two (or whenever Omicron arrives there), Texans will be making the same time-delayed fallacy that everyone else has made. After 3 or 4 "humps", you'd think that people would be understanding of this time-delay effect by now.
mlac 5y ago
I… currently am isolating with COVID and don’t know how to feel. I was fortunate to get both Moderna shots and then get a booster in November. So far symptoms have been overwhelmingly mild (sore throat, allergies, mild cough, no impact to blood oxygen levels). Started feeling them on Christmas morning, but thought it was my parents’ HVAC and winter drying me out. Went to my in-laws, had a nice Christmas and day after Christmas, and COVID came up in discussion. My in-laws had a test remaining, and I said “I’ll take it - my parents are seeing other family and in the off chance I have it I’d want to let them know”. So I took it last night, and it was very positive very quickly. Got another test today from another brand - also positive. Looking at CDC guidance, I’m somewhat confused. 5 days of isolation are fine, but if you look at timelines, respiratory issues seem to start around day 5. So I guess you’re either getting better or taking a turn on day 5. And I’m stuck at my in-laws a few hours from home, just isolating in a room. Everyone else took a test (we were lucky to find them) and tested negative, but we will see if symptoms develop in others in the coming days. Prior to COVID, this is nothing I would have stayed home for. Nothing I would have even considered could kill 800k+ people in the US. It’s really hard to wrap my head around it, and when I woke up this morning it was a bit of “did that test actually go off?”. Oura ring also alerted that my body temp was higher than usual and that I should take it easy. But I don’t have a fever using a mouth thermometer. I didn’t end up getting a PCR test, as the likelihood of two false positives across two different brands is very low, and I’m not totally asymptomatic. Just feel like 85% healthy where normal is 100%. But I won’t know if this is omicron or some other variant. So I’m not taking any pills, monoclonal antibodies, or other approaches with this other than staying hydrated and mucinex. I figure I’m ok - but it’s really weird to be writing this on day 3 of symptoms knowing that day 5 could mean I’m either fine and can just mask up around people or I may take a turn, ramp a fever, and have breathing problems. And I’ve been very cautious with protocols. Always mask inside, maintain distance, work from home. Yesterday was the first time since March 2020 I went to a brewery to celebrate someone’s birthday (again, feeling fine enough to drink) and I made sure the group sat outside at a fire pit (where we were alone and cold) instead of going into the brewery. It’s all very weird.
- qbasic_forever 5y ago
  Bad symptoms and hospitalizations typically happen 4 weeks after symptoms. If you are at higher risk, i.e. older or some comorbidities, do not delay seeking treatment like monoclonal antibodies. There is a short window early in the infection where they can work. And even now the only monoclonals that work against omicron are in very, very short supply. The sooner you at least seek out or find available treatment options and discuss them with healthcare professionals the better. Good luck.
aaomidi 5y ago
Wow I didn't imagine the lack of flight attendants was going to hit the government this hard. Remember when Joe Biden suggested these covid deaths under a president should mean that person shouldn't be president anymore? I wonder if he's gonna listen to his own advice.

68 points by infodocket 5y ago

I would love to see them provide references and links to studies they are using to make these decisions. As it is this just reads almost like propaganda or a very strong, "trust us, we're the CDC". We're approaching a megadeath of Americans from COVID-19 and cannot continue on this disastrous path.

Bombthecat 5y ago
Checkout Dr. campbell on Youtube. He is pretty good. I like how he goes over things and explains them.
- qbasic_forever 5y ago
  I've watched him since the start and his quality of advice has strongly declined since the pro-Ivermectin/Joe Rogan crowd started filling his comments with nonsense. He was great in March 2020 when it was clear governments were too slow to react. Nowadays he seems resigned to fatalism that "we're all just going to get it, nothing can be done".
  - timr 5y ago
    We are all going to get it. This isn't fatalism. It's just a statement of fact. It's an endemic respiratory virus with multiple animal reservoirs, and there is no vaccine that provides sterilizing immunity. Elimination is a pipe dream.
    - josephcsible 5y ago
      There are plenty of other infectious diseases that aren't eradicated but that most people never get. Why that dichotomy for this one?
      - timr 5y ago
        Because those diseases have been circulating amongst the human population for thousands of years (or longer), and there is a level of population immunity that keeps large outbreaks from occurring. Also, you aren't even aware of most of the viruses you're infected with on a regular basis, because you aren't looking for them, and immunity you've built up over a lifetime reduces the severity of symptoms. For all you know, you've been infected asymptomatically / minimally symptomatically with any number of common respiratory viruses in the past year, and written it off completely. The big difference for SARS-CoV2 was that the entire global population was immunologically naive in 2020 (maybe; there's evidence for some level of immunity due to common-cold coronaviruses). This is rapidly changing.
      - nradov 5y ago
        Vinay Prasad MD wrote a good explanation about why it will be impossible to avoid this virus. https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/vinay-prasad/94646 https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/vinay-prasad/94646
iherbig 5y ago
While I agree with both sentiments, I find the juxtaposition between the two interesting as it implies a relationship between them but they don't seem to be related at all.
phonypc 5y ago
Kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place. With the way case numbers are going, for everyone to strictly adhere to the old recommendations would necessitate pretty huge disruptions to essential services.
codeddesign 5y ago
Megadeath? That’s a little extreme considering that the death rate has been tapering for some time. On the other hand, the administration and CDC have been running propaganda the entire year, so this is nothing new. Expecting truth out of either of them about this is a lost cause.
- iso1210 5y ago
  Current US deaths is 815k, and increasing steadilly. At this rate it will hit 1Mdeath by the end of April
  - wackro 5y ago
    Excess deaths are over 1m. See https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-tracker https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-...
  - TeeMassive 5y ago
    There is no way to know if those deaths were because or with Covid-19. Also correlation doesn't mean causation. Confinement caused a lot of hardships on people. Hell, fentanyl alone kills hundred of thousands each year, that's not even counting alcohol, other drugs, stress and solitude.
    - codeddesign 5y ago
      The hypocrisy is astounding. I don’t disagree with the numbers above, but at the same time you are absolutely right - yet downvoted and grayed out. Reminds me of Twitter and Reddit.
      - TeeMassive 5y ago
        On Reddit / Twitter I would be shadow banned and downvoted by bots and bought accounts. HN really is a sanctuary IMO.
        5y ago
prirun 5y ago
Who needs a study? We have this! https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/23/airlines-request-to-reduce-covid-quarantine-time-wrong-move-flight-attendant-union-says.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/23/airlines-request-to-reduce-c...

Bombthecat 5y ago

Yes! The end is nigh! (in a good way :))

pubg 5y ago
That's not what it says at all.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

Darmody 5y ago

I really hope Omicron is the strain that turns the virus into endemic and we can live with it as we live with the flu.

dragontamer 5y ago
Eeehhhhh. Hard to say right now. Hospitals in my state have just activated emergency protocols, because our surge is already exceeding Winter-2020 levels. This means that 20% of surgeries are going to be cancelled, and other such care is going to be officially rationed off. (BTW: We're at 90% adults vaccinated, but "70% to 80%" of the hospitalizations are unvaccinated individuals). EDIT: To be clear: individual hospitals declare emergencies. Its not a state-wide declaration. Hospitals have begun to declare emergencies and activate hospital-specific rationing. Omicron has been a bitch so far. It seems like it is causing hospitalizations in the unvaccinated population, maybe not at the same "rate" as Delta, but in high enough numbers that we're going to run out of hospital beds in my area. ------- Elsewhere in the country... Florida's 300% rise in cases this past week has demonstrated that natural-immunity from Alpha/Delta was completely worthless vs Omicron. Florida is well on its way to having a worse surge than it ever had before. It doesn't seem like we can natural-immunity our ways out of this.
- bonzini 5y ago
  So there are 9 times as many vaccinated people and 3 times fewer hospitalizations, that would be 1-1/27 efficacy (96% or so). Sounds like it's no worse, or possibly even better, than what was measured in the trials
- travisgriggs 5y ago
  Curious which state you're in.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- nickff 5y ago
  >"Omicron has been a bitch so far. It seems like it is causing hospitalizations in the unvaccinated population, maybe not at the same "rate" as Delta, but in high enough numbers that we're going to run out of hospital beds in my area. " One of the problems seems to be that hospital staff are so expensive (because of their regulated monopoly) that we've been running with no spare capacity in normal times. Most other systems have 20% or more extra capacity.

pubg 5y ago

> If you: > Completed the primary series of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine over 6 months ago and are not boosted > OR Completed the primary series of J&J over 2 months ago and are not boosted > OR Are unvaccinated So vaccinations received greater than 2-6 months prior are worthless in this context (still keeps you out of the hospital, doesn't reduce transmissibility). This signals that the provided "immunity" is quite short-lived, moreso than any other vaccine I can recall. How unfortunate.

WaxProlix 5y ago
Yes, and with the continued prevalence of novel strains they fail to hit a moving target.
heavyset_go 5y ago
Flu vaccines have a similar immunity cliff. Some HIV vaccines in trials also had similar rates, where the vaccine would need to be given once to several times a year. Some viruses are adapted, or are able to mutate, to avoid immune responses relatively rapidly compared to other viruses.
cletus 5y ago
Are people who say this unaware of annual flu vaccines? To compare, we're still by some measures 103 years into the Spanish flu pandemic [1]. [1]: https://www.history.com/news/1918-flu-pandemic-never-ended https://www.history.com/news/1918-flu-pandemic-never-ended
ohmanjjj 5y ago
Pharma companies realized the money is in subscriptions. Like Adobe, why offer Photoshop for a one time sale when they can go the SaaS model and get the juicy recurring revenue. Vaccine as a service…
- User23 5y ago
  It’s really interesting how this pandemic has got formerly cautious people all in on big pharma. You are of course correct that pharma, like all businesses, loves recurring revenue. Statins made billions and billions to just give one example. Meanwhile Gilead made a Hepatitis B cure and while it did well the first couple years, profits dropped like a rock because, well, it was a cure. Goldman Sachs even helpfully pointed out in a research note that cures are economically inferior.

yosito 5y ago

It seems that the CDC's logic is that reducing the quarantine will encourage people 1) to get tested, since 5 days of quarantine isn't as bad as 10 days and 2) to actually quarantine if they are exposed or positive. But no one is going to wear a mask for those 5 days after quarantine. You're either contagious or you're not. If you and/or others believe you're contagious, you're going to isolate. If you don't believe it, you're not going to wear a mask. No one is going to go around saying "yeah, I might still have COVID so I thought I'll still hang out with you, but I'll just wear a mask". Yeah right. And sadly, the CDC don't appear to be offering any advice or information about how long one is actually contagious, which is the information people really need to make safe and responsible decisons. Nor do they appear to be encouraging more rapid at home testing, which is really what needs to happen to start managing this virus. I spent the entire day today calling around for any kind of rapid tests anywhere in Ohio after someone from our Christmas Eve gathering fell sick. They're sold out everywhere. Was finally able to get some tests when a shipment came in to the county health department, but they were gone in a couple of hours. Meanwhile, I think Joe Biden is asleep. Why doesn't he issue an executive order and/or activate the Defense Production Act to get rapid tests to Americans now? He's had plenty of time to prepare.

kevinavery 5y ago
See sentence 2. > The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after.
- yosito 5y ago
  Yes, but they don't show any data.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

lettergram 5y ago

warning26 5y ago
dragontamer 5y ago
When this pandemic started, a 35-year-old family friend of mine got infected with COVID19, infected his father, and then both died. Then we couldn't attend their funeral because the devastated family was worried they would spread COVID19 to everyone else during the funeral. You can't live like normal in these social circumstances. ------- Florida's death rate has been far higher than the rest of the country due to their decision. And for what? Omicron arrives, and their "natural immunity" is falling apart like a paper tiger. "Natural immunity" gave them absolutely no protection at all.
- disambiguation 5y ago
  > Florida's death rate has been far higher than the rest of the country due to their decision. According to CDC data, Florida and New York at this time have the same death rate. About 320 excess deaths per 100K. Re: NI, I'm baffled how this is still controversial in the US when the UK, Germany, Israel, etc. Many others recognize it as a valid alternative to vaccination. It absolutely did give them protection against severe illness just like South Africa. It's in the data.
  - dragontamer 5y ago
    This discussion has happened literally every surge. Hospitalizations lag case counts by about 1 to 2 weeks. Deaths further lag hospitalization counts by another 1 to 2 weeks. Omicron arrived in NYC weeks before it arrived in Florida. You can see it evident in the case counts. You have to wait the appropriate amount of time (ex: ~1 to 2 weeks to compare hospitalizations, and ~2 to 4 weeks to compare deaths). ------------ Omicron hasn't hit Texas yet. So in a week or two (or whenever Omicron arrives there), Texans will be making the same time-delayed fallacy that everyone else has made. After 3 or 4 "humps", you'd think that people would be understanding of this time-delay effect by now.

mlac 5y ago

I… currently am isolating with COVID and don’t know how to feel. I was fortunate to get both Moderna shots and then get a booster in November. So far symptoms have been overwhelmingly mild (sore throat, allergies, mild cough, no impact to blood oxygen levels). Started feeling them on Christmas morning, but thought it was my parents’ HVAC and winter drying me out. Went to my in-laws, had a nice Christmas and day after Christmas, and COVID came up in discussion. My in-laws had a test remaining, and I said “I’ll take it - my parents are seeing other family and in the off chance I have it I’d want to let them know”. So I took it last night, and it was very positive very quickly. Got another test today from another brand - also positive. Looking at CDC guidance, I’m somewhat confused. 5 days of isolation are fine, but if you look at timelines, respiratory issues seem to start around day 5. So I guess you’re either getting better or taking a turn on day 5. And I’m stuck at my in-laws a few hours from home, just isolating in a room. Everyone else took a test (we were lucky to find them) and tested negative, but we will see if symptoms develop in others in the coming days. Prior to COVID, this is nothing I would have stayed home for. Nothing I would have even considered could kill 800k+ people in the US. It’s really hard to wrap my head around it, and when I woke up this morning it was a bit of “did that test actually go off?”. Oura ring also alerted that my body temp was higher than usual and that I should take it easy. But I don’t have a fever using a mouth thermometer. I didn’t end up getting a PCR test, as the likelihood of two false positives across two different brands is very low, and I’m not totally asymptomatic. Just feel like 85% healthy where normal is 100%. But I won’t know if this is omicron or some other variant. So I’m not taking any pills, monoclonal antibodies, or other approaches with this other than staying hydrated and mucinex. I figure I’m ok - but it’s really weird to be writing this on day 3 of symptoms knowing that day 5 could mean I’m either fine and can just mask up around people or I may take a turn, ramp a fever, and have breathing problems. And I’ve been very cautious with protocols. Always mask inside, maintain distance, work from home. Yesterday was the first time since March 2020 I went to a brewery to celebrate someone’s birthday (again, feeling fine enough to drink) and I made sure the group sat outside at a fire pit (where we were alone and cold) instead of going into the brewery. It’s all very weird.

qbasic_forever 5y ago
Bad symptoms and hospitalizations typically happen 4 weeks after symptoms. If you are at higher risk, i.e. older or some comorbidities, do not delay seeking treatment like monoclonal antibodies. There is a short window early in the infection where they can work. And even now the only monoclonals that work against omicron are in very, very short supply. The sooner you at least seek out or find available treatment options and discuss them with healthcare professionals the better. Good luck.

aaomidi 5y ago

Wow I didn't imagine the lack of flight attendants was going to hit the government this hard. Remember when Joe Biden suggested these covid deaths under a president should mean that person shouldn't be president anymore? I wonder if he's gonna listen to his own advice.