How Is Covid Coming Back?

[BFritz21]

I keep seeing all these articles saying Covid is coming back and I see people in videos wearing masks again, but hasn't everyone had it by now, meaning they have antibodies?

Do antibodies not protect against the new variants?

I see that people are getting vaccinated again, but is it even needed?

[CKwi88]

(10-04-2023, 01:58 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I keep seeing all these articles saying Covid is coming back and I see people in videos wearing masks again, but hasn't everyone had it by now, meaning they have antibodies?

Do antibodies not protect against the new variants?

I see that people are getting vaccinated again, but is it even needed?

I am by no means a medical professional or medical expert, but here are my two cents:

People wearing masks isn't too surprising to me. It's an easy option that provides some help with zero real negatives. As for why Covid is still around, I think it is the natural progression of an influenza disease. It is always going to be around, as influenza viruses change over time with their different strains and mutations. I'd imagine that now that we have a better idea of what Covid is and how it is acting (the "unknown" factor was, necessarily, a big part of the pandemic) along with better treatment options and vaccines it will continue to approach being "just another flu". In a couple years' time it wouldn't surprise me if there is a unified flu vaccine that gets offered every year rather than the two that are being suggested now. But for the time being there is no harm in taking extra precautions like boosters and vaccines.

I still, at least to my knowledge, have not had Covid yet. 

[Stewy]

(10-04-2023, 01:58 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I keep seeing all these articles saying Covid is coming back and I see people in videos wearing masks again, but hasn't everyone had it by now, meaning they have antibodies?

Do antibodies not protect against the new variants?

I see that people are getting vaccinated again, but is it even needed?

It mutates quickly and has multi-variants.  Some cause more harm than others.  Having the anti-bodies helps to mitigate symptoms as they are anti-bodies related to core virus.  Boosters enhance this and most importantly booster shots add anti-bodies of the other discovered variants.

This is exactly how the Flu and Flu vaccine works.  The yearly Flue vaccine boosts your immune system AND adds anti-bodies for new discovered variants.

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(10-04-2023, 01:58 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I keep seeing all these articles saying Covid is coming back and I see people in videos wearing masks again, but hasn't everyone had it by now, meaning they have antibodies?

Not everyone has had Covid. The cases numbers have waxed and waned over time. The virus mutates, creates a new variant, case numbers go up. More people acquire immunity via immunization or by getting infected, and the case numbers go down. Lather, rinse, repeat. People can get Covid multiple times due to the variants. even with acquired immunity (vaccine or previous infection), although it is less likely. The severity varies even in the same person infected more than once.

Most people don’t have symptoms the first two days after being infected although they are contagious. Procedure or surgical masks can reduce the chance a contagious person spreads the virus to others. Just like when our mom tells us to cover our mouth and nose when we cough or sneeze with a cold. A procedure or surgical masks is not meant to be worn to prevent the wearer from getting sick, but prevent the sick person from getting others sick. It isn’t 100% effective, but is proven to reduce the spread. I keep seeing this misrepresented almost 4 years later. It’s very frustrating An N95 mask is what providers wear when seeing Covid patients so they don’t get infected.

If you don’t want to get sick, wear a N95 mask. If you don’t want to get others sick, wear a procedure mask. (Based upon the risk associated with the setting and your risk factors for severe Covid.)

Quote:Do antibodies not protect against the new variants?

Unfortunately, it’s not a simple yes or no answer. It’s more of a “well, it depends” answer. It’s a lock and key analogy. Your bodies antibodies are the key. The Covid virus is the lock. If the key fits, you have immunity. If the virus mutates so much the key doesn’t fit, you don’t have immunity. If the virus changes slightly and the key still kinda works, but not perfectly, then you have partial immunity. So far partial immunity has been shown to decrease severe infection resulting in hospitalization and deaths.

The state of Georgia maintained a website tracking Covid hospitalization and deaths, but stopped sometime after the delta variant. Initially, for every one vaccinated person with severe Covid there were 10 unvaccinated patients with severe Covid. With the delta variant the ratio was 1:2 instead of 1:10. So during the course of that website monitoring cases here the unvaccinated were 100 to 1000% more likely to get severe Covid compared to the vaccinated. I don’t know the numbers since that website no longer tracks the cases.

Quote:I see that people are getting vaccinated again, but is it even needed?

They are recommended.

I will add this. Everything in medicine involves risks and benefits. Aspirin is available over the counter and is generally considered safe. However, it can cause complications that result in death. There is always a risk/benefit analysis with every intervention. If the benefit outweighs the risk, proceed. If the risk outweighs the benefit, stop. You’ve shared you are high risk for severe Covid so I think you should discuss the risks and benefits of immunization with your provided.

[NATI BENGALS]

I was irritated seeing this headline. Which didn’t get much traction.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/25/merck-covid-drug-linked-to-virus-mutations-study-says-.html

Not only was it probably a lab leak. We also caused it to mutate with one of the treatments we were giving.

The common cold has turned in to the common Covid and is probably here to stay.

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(10-04-2023, 09:40 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: I was irritated seeing this headline. Which didn’t get much traction.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/25/merck-covid-drug-linked-to-virus-mutations-study-says-.html

Not only was it probably a lab leak. We also caused it to mutate with one of the treatments we were giving.

The common cold has turned in to the common Covid and is probably here to stay.

I haven’t read the study, yet, but I’m interested in doing so. However, I will say I’ve never written a prescription for Lagevrio and don’t know a single provider who has. Compared to Paxlovid, Lagevrio is less effective, more expensive, and is approved for use under an EUA instead of full FDA approval as Paxlovid is. And I don’t even know about how widely it is available in pharmacies or the insurance coverage, but I would assume Paxlovid has the advantage there, also.

[GreenDragon]

(10-04-2023, 01:58 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I keep seeing all these articles saying Covid is coming back and I see people in videos wearing masks again, but hasn't everyone had it by now, meaning they have antibodies?

Do antibodies not protect against the new variants?

I see that people are getting vaccinated again, but is it even needed?

Call. Your. Doctor.

[XenoMorph]

Fear Sells. and generates clicks

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(10-04-2023, 09:40 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: I was irritated seeing this headline. Which didn’t get much traction.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/25/merck-covid-drug-linked-to-virus-mutations-study-says-.html

Not only was it probably a lab leak. We also caused it to mutate with one of the treatments we were giving.

The common cold has turned in to the common Covid and is probably here to stay.

The study's authors stated there are increased mutations in the group treated with Lagevrio compared to the untreated group. Same thing can be said about antibiotics. There is an increased rate of MRSA in patients treated with amoxicillin compared to untreated patients. 


The authors also stated the mutations reduce the viral load. That's how the medication works. It creates mutations which are incompatible with life for the virus.


The authors stated there is a potential for onward transmissions to other patients and is difficult to predict and could have a deleterious or neutral effect.


However, they never demonstrated any clinical effect on contagiousness or on morbidity and mortality.


Basically, they suggested this antiviral medication has the same potential risks as using antibiotics which can create mutations in bacteria.


We aren't going to stop using antibiotics.  We just need to use them judiciously. (But, try telling that to a patient with a cold whose doctor always gives them a Z pack because it is easier to give them what they want rather than explain why they don't need it in the first place and they don't want the bad Yelp review.)


It is an area that will require further research.

[HarleyDog]

(10-05-2023, 11:37 AM)XenoMorph Wrote: Fear Sells.  and generates clicks

Yep. The same thing works in the political arena. It's all designed to scare the hell out of you. 

[Millhouse]

I'm getting Covid shot next week along with flue shot. Then another shot following week for another kind of flu.

If anyone thinks I shouldn't get those due to overreacting, feel free to exchange immune systems with me. See what tune you sing then.

[*bfine32*]

The same way the Flu comes back every year

[reuben.ahmed]

(10-05-2023, 06:10 PM)Millhouse Wrote: I'm getting Covid shot next week along with flue shot. Then another shot following week for another kind of flu.

If anyone thinks I shouldn't get those due to overreacting, feel free to exchange immune systems with me. See what tune you sing then.

Yeah, infectious disease has nothing to do with politics IMO. I'm fully vaccinated and got COVID 6 weeks ago, still recovering. Definitely thought death was incoming for a few days, fever of 104.1. They say if you can't bring it down below 104 with medicine have to go to ER. Got it down to 102 for about a week lol.

They wanted to test my liver before administering paxlovid, I didn't have any energy to get a test done lol. I barely had energy to walk 30ft to get a drink out of the fridge.

[Millhouse]

(10-06-2023, 06:53 AM)reuben.ahmed Wrote: Yeah, infectious disease has nothing to do with politics IMO. I'm fully vaccinated and got COVID 6 weeks ago, still recovering. Definitely thought death was incoming for a few days, fever of 104.1. They say if you can't bring it down below 104 with medicine have to go to ER. Got it down to 102 for about a week lol.

They wanted to test my liver before administering paxlovid, I didn't have any energy to get a test done lol. I barely had energy to walk 30ft to get a drink out of the fridge.

First off congrats on beating it. I can definitely relate to everything you were going through so I know the toll it took on you. But good thing you had the vaccine, or as I call it the covid immune system booster shots, because imo it gave you much better odds beating it as opposed to not having the shots. 

Myself I haven't caught it, knock on wood. But I have a forever weakened immune system, and last year I caught a cough that a few weeks later landed me in the hospital for a week at Easter. So if a cough or a cold can hit ones like me that hard, I don't want to imagine getting covid anytime soon. But yeah, I guess it's just propaganda fear, so I have nothing to worry about.

[reuben.ahmed]

(10-06-2023, 09:42 AM)Millhouse Wrote: First off congrats on beating it. I can definitely relate to everything you were going through so I know the toll it took on you. But good thing you had the vaccine, or as I call it the covid immune system booster shots, because imo it gave you much better odds beating it as opposed to not having the shots. 

Myself I haven't caught it, knock on wood. But I have a forever weakened immune system, and last year I caught a cough that a few weeks later landed me in the hospital for a week at Easter. So if a cough or a cold can hit ones like me that hard, I don't want to imagine getting covid anytime soon. But yeah, I guess it's just propaganda fear, so I have nothing to worry about.

Yeah the cough was pretty crazy, I still have it but not nearly as bad. No medicine could deter it and let you sleep.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(10-04-2023, 01:58 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I keep seeing all these articles saying Covid is coming back and I see people in videos wearing masks again, but hasn't everyone had it by now, meaning they have antibodies?

Do antibodies not protect against the new variants?

I see that people are getting vaccinated again, but is it even needed?

The vaccine isn't a cure, I know people that have taken it multiple times and have had covid multiple times.

A vaccine should make you immune for a minute you would think, at least that is what I thought for at least a period of time.

I got covid, didn't take a vaccine and have been around people with covid without a mask on and I am immune, and they wish they did 
what I did now. Because like you said, I got the antibodies, and I don't believe in those talking heads on the news that lie to me all the 
time telling me a mask helps me. 

When the spray from a covid sneeze or cough is so small of a spray it goes right through the mask anyways some of the time and if your 
eyes are not covered it goes right into your eyes which is usually where it transmits from all the Doc's I have listened to.

I just try not to be around older or unhealthy people when I am sick and I think most people should do this. The masks do very little.

Your eyes get it if someone sneezes or coughs on you unless you are immune. You touch your face all the time, and even more messing 
with a mask. But a lot of this is opinion and I know doesn't flow with what everyone hears from the liars on TV. But I have been lied to 
enough to not believe the fake news and just do the opposite and I am right most of the time. If you listen to the liars on the main stream
media you will be wrong most of the time. Shit, even Fox news lies to you and I am a Conservative.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(10-06-2023, 09:42 AM)Millhouse Wrote: First off congrats on beating it. I can definitely relate to everything you were going through so I know the toll it took on you. But good thing you had the vaccine, or as I call it the covid immune system booster shots, because imo it gave you much better odds beating it as opposed to not having the shots. 

Myself I haven't caught it, knock on wood. But I have a forever weakened immune system, and last year I caught a cough that a few weeks later landed me in the hospital for a week at Easter. So if a cough or a cold can hit ones like me that hard, I don't want to imagine getting covid anytime soon. But yeah, I guess it's just propaganda fear, so I have nothing to worry about.

It is different for everybody though, no question. I pray you don't get it while taking the vaccine. I know a few people that have died 
as they took the shots before even getting covid and I am in a small population. I do things the old school way, if I get it, take natural 
medicines, stay hydrated and gain immunity. It worked for me, but to each his own.

I wouldn't promote the vaccine at all. Young people are dying from heart attacks all over the world who have taken the vaccine. It isn't
right, not saying all vaccines are bad either. Just saying this one was never made to be the answer but a way to control.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(10-05-2023, 08:01 PM)bfine32 Wrote: The same way the Flu comes back every year

I know like 20 people that take the Flu shot every year and get it right after lol

I never get the Flu and just stick to good ole natural tea and natural vitamins.

[BFritz21]

(10-06-2023, 11:07 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: The vaccine isn't a cure, I know people that have taken it multiple times and have had covid multiple times.

A vaccine should make you immune for a minute you would think, at least that is what I thought for at least a period of time.

I got covid, didn't take a vaccine and have been around people with covid without a mask on and I am immune, and they wish they did 
what I did now. Because like you said, I got the antibodies, and I don't believe in those talking heads on the news that lie to me all the 
time telling me a mask helps me. 

When the spray from a covid sneeze or cough is so small of a spray it goes right through the mask anyways some of the time and if your 
eyes are not covered it goes right into your eyes which is usually where it transmits from all the Doc's I have listened to.

I just try not to be around older or unhealthy people when I am sick and I think most people should do this. The masks do very little.

Your eyes get it if someone sneezes or coughs on you unless you are immune. You touch your face all the time, and even more messing 
with a mask. But a lot of this is opinion and I know doesn't flow with what everyone hears from the liars on TV. But I have been lied to 
enough to not believe the fake news and just do the opposite and I am right most of the time. If you listen to the liars on the main stream
media you will be wrong most of the time. Shit, even Fox news lies to you and I am a Conservative.

I know the vaccine isn’t a cure: it’s just a way to fake being Covid (or whatever disease) to teach your body how to fight it, which is why I was asking if it protects against new variants, especially since I’ve had it before.

I get that variants are obviously different (hence the name variant) but I didn’t know if it took care of the basic structure of Covid, meaning the variants would be protected from it too.

I got Covid and I’m glad I was vaccinated because it was still hell, so I can’t even imagine getting it before the vaccine.

[treee]

(10-06-2023, 11:55 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I know the vaccine isn’t a cure: it’s just a way to fake being Covid (or whatever disease, to teach your body how to fight it), which is why I was asking if it protects against new variants, especially since I’ve had it before.

I get that variants are obviously different (hence the name variant) but I didn’t know if it took care of the basic structure of Covid, meaning the variants would be protected from it too.  

I got Covid and I’m glad I was vaccinated because it was still hell, so I can’t even imagine getting it before the vaccine.

I get what you're saying. Even though vaccines might not be for the newest variant, they do still help because they're the closest to the currently circulating variant (generally speaking). On a biological level I'm not sure how COVID is changing over time but the concept in general is called "Antigenic Drift". So if you want to look more into the concept you might try looking up something like "COVID Antigenic Drift"

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34910934/

Imo it's still a good idea for people with weakened immune systems to continue to get the vaccine even if Antigenic Drift does lower it's efficacy over time.