COVID-19/corona virus mega thread/prepping thread

[zxcvbob]

https://babylonbee.com/news/pfizer-releases-popular-new-drug-pfivermectin

[RocketMan]

https://babylonbee.com/news/pfizer-releases-popular-new-drug-pfivermectin

Science at work!

[Bogie]

Just got back from my local Harbor Freight.
 
They have a LOT of holes on the shelves. I needed a tubing cutter, because I can't find mine (I will now...), and... They would normally have it. Nope.
 
They were also out of about half, if not more, of their tarp selection. I wanted a 19x19.5, but I got a 19x29. I can always fold it.
 
They didn't have tarp balls. But I got rope.

[MillCreek]

How Russia uses antibody tests:

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-russia-antibody-tests-effe47523f80991e55c710cc585e118c

[Ron]

How Russia uses antibody tests:

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-russia-antibody-tests-effe47523f80991e55c710cc585e118c

I've also read that even if antibodies are so low they aren't detected that the body still remembers some infections and responds properly. There is I guess a potential for false confidence and false concern.

At this point in time I'm just looking at the numbers. Reinfection is still so rare that there is little to nothing out there about it on the web. It's not a thing.

[ConstitutionCowboy]

Welp! I finally got hit by the Covid. I went to the VA hospital here on OKC for my annual checkup on August 30th, everything checked out OK, but went back on September 10th and was diagnosed with the Covid and hypoxemia. I guess the best place to get sick is at the hospital. The doctor said I was pretty much over it by then, and didn't need to quarantine. I've been on oxygen since but getting better every day. 

The up side? I now have natural immunity and have achieved my weight loss goal! It's not the best or most pleasant way to lose those last ten pounds, but hey! 

Woody

[Ron]

Glad your on the mend, congrats on joining the natural immunity club!

[ConstitutionCowboy]

Glad your on the mend, congrats on joining the natural immunity club!

I'm happy to be among the best!

Woody

[Ben]

We're getting >1 year data on natural immunity now. One of the latest peer reviewed studies indicates most still have good natural immunity after a year, with this study suggesting that those who had more severe cases have the stronger immunity.

The immune systems of the vast majority of people who have been infected with the CCP virus will continue to carry antibodies against the virus for at least 12 months, according to a peer-reviewed study accepted by the European Journal of Immunology on Sept. 24.

Scientists at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare studied the presence of antibodies in 1,292 subjects eight months after infection. They found that 96 percent of the subjects still carried neutralizing antibodies and 66 percent still carried a type of antibody called nucleoprotein IgG.

The scientists then investigated antibody levels one year after infection by randomly selecting 367 subjects from the original cohort who had not yet been vaccinated. Eighty-nine percent of the subjects still carried neutralizing antibodies, and 36 percent still carried the IgG antibody.

Antibody levels were higher in subjects who had experienced severe COVID-19 disease. Compared to those who had mild disease, these subjects had two to seven times as many antibodies for at least 13 months after infection.

“Studies of individuals who have recovered from [CCP virus] infection are crucial in determining for how long antibodies persist after infection and whether these antibodies protect against re-infection,” the scientists wrote (pdf).

Despite lasting protection against the original strain of the CCP virus, the study found that the neutralization efficiency against the Alpha, Beta, and Delta variants waned over time. The reduction in efficiency was “considerably declined” for the Beta variant and was “only slightly reduced” against the Alpha variant. For the Delta variant, which is the dominant strain in the United States, the study found that 80 percent of the subjects still had immune protection 12 months after infection.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/antibodies-persist-for-more-than-a-year-after-covid-19-infection-study-finds_4029278.html

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eji.202149535


The article additionally referenced this paper from May:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01377-8

[cordex]

As fast as COVID is mutating, I am not very sanguine on the long term effectiveness of either vaccination or natural immunity.

[Ben]

As fast as COVID is mutating, I am not very sanguine on the long term effectiveness of either vaccination or natural immunity.

I found it interesting that in the papers I linked to, they showed natural immunity to be less effective against Beta compared to Delta. I don't really know anything about viral mutations, but I thought viruses continued mutation away from immunity. I would have figured the Delta variant to be more prone to ignore natural immunity from Alpha than the Beta variant.

[Perd Hapley]

I found it interesting that in the papers I linked to, they showed natural immunity to be less effective against Beta compared to Delta. I don't really know anything about viral mutations, but I thought viruses continued mutation away from immunity. I would have figured the Delta variant to be more prone to ignore natural immunity from Alpha than the Beta variant.

Does Delta come from Beta or Gamma, or is it a direct offshoot of the original strain? Or does anyone even know?

[Ben]

This study is on vaccines. Still awaiting peer review:

Antibody levels generated by two shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can undergo up to a 10-fold decrease seven months following the second vaccination, research suggests.

The drop in antibody levels will compromise the body’s ability to defend itself against COVID-19 if the individual becomes infected.

In a recent BioRxiv study published ahead of peer-review, many recipients of the vaccine displayed substantial waning of antibodies to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, or SARS-CoV-2, and its variants including Delta, Beta, and Mu.

Bali Pulendran of Stanford University and Mehul Suthar of Emory University told Reuters that the study shows “vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine induces high levels of neutralizing antibodies against the original vaccine strain, but these levels drop by nearly 10-fold by seven months.”

While the body has other defense mechanisms in place to ward off the virus, Pulendran and Suthar added that antibodies “are critically important in protecting against SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

The study focused on 46 healthy participants who had received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The participants’ blood was tested once after receiving the second vaccination and once again after six months.

Researchers suggested administering a third booster vaccination as a measure to improve vaccine efficacy.

More at:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/vaccine-antibodies-decline-7-months-after-second-shot-us-study_4029247.html

[zxcvbob]

This study is on vaccines. Still awaiting peer review:

More at:
https://www.theepochtimes.com/vaccine-antibodies-decline-7-months-after-second-shot-us-study_4029247.html

Sure the antibodies decline, but what about T-cells and B-cell immunity?   (B-cells, T-cells, revenuers too, searchin' for the place where he made his brew...)  ((sorry))

[Nick1911]

I found it interesting that in the papers I linked to, they showed natural immunity to be less effective against Beta compared to Delta. I don't really know anything about viral mutations, but I thought viruses continued mutation away from immunity. I would have figured the Delta variant to be more prone to ignore natural immunity from Alpha than the Beta variant.

Keep in mind that mutation is essentially random.

[cordex]

Keep in mind that mutation is essentially random.

Right, but the mutants that survive tend to be the ones for which the mutation increases their chance of survival in their environments.

I would expect that an area with lots of vaccine-based immunity to generate mutants that tend to be able to survive in people who have been vaccinated. Likewise, in areas with significant quantity of recovered cases, I would expect the surviving variants to be adapted to defeating naturally adapted immunity.  Given that there are places in the world with high populations of either category, it is not hard to imagine that variants might emerge suited to different environments.

[Bogie]

Just in case y'all missed something, do you remember the Swine Flu? The Bird Flu? The SARS panic?
 
Those beasties are all still out there.
 
They just mutated to not kill their hosts.
 
Darwinian selection.

[Perd Hapley]

At this point in time I'm just looking at the numbers. Reinfection is still so rare that there is little to nothing out there about it on the web. It's not a thing.

Just tonight I was talking to a kid at church (about 13, I think), who just had the plague again last week. Had it first in April of this year.

He also said he'd rather have it 20 more times than get a vaccine.

[RoadKingLarry]

Keep in mind that mutation is essentially random.

 
That's what they want you to believe.
 

[MillCreek]

The nice nurse just came to my office and gave me a flu shot. 

[RocketMan]

The nice nurse just came to my office and gave me a flu shot.

Hopefully it will work on this year's variant.  It's always a bit hit or miss in that regard.
The couple of times I got a flu shot I always felt a bit cruddy afterwards.  It was just for a day and nothing major.  And I don't recall getting the flu afterwards, either.  But then again I almost never get the flu.  I'm probably not a good data point with regards to flu shot efficacy.

[MillCreek]

Hopefully it will work on this year's variant.  It's always a bit hit or miss in that regard.
The couple of times I got a flu shot I always felt a bit cruddy afterwards.  It was just for a day and nothing major.  And I don't recall getting the flu afterwards, either.  But then again I almost never get the flu.  I'm probably not a good data point with regards to flu shot efficacy.

The vaccine manufacturers have to guess several months ago which flu strains will be circulating this fall, place the orders and start incubating the eggs and making the vaccines. Sometimes the guess is spot on and other times not so much.

[MechAg94]

https://babylonbee.com/news/pfizer-releases-popular-new-drug-pfivermectin

Well, interesting news today.   

Pfizer conducts study on new drug that some believe is like ivermectin
https://www.fingerlakes1.com/2021/10/01/pfizer-conducts-study-on-new-drug-that-some-believe-is-like-ivermectin/

Pfizer’s new pill to prevent COVID-19 is not the same as ivermectin
https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-067310377629

Either way, I hope they are effective and not too expensive. 

[MillCreek]

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-new-zealand-auckland-829fc4cd04e68e9e3b264ac03418aeaf

New Zealand is turning over a new leaf.

[Perd Hapley]

The nice nurse just came to my office and gave me a flu shot.

Oughtta keep your door locked.