update on Moderna/California:
https://twitter.com/JeongPark52/status/1352030042591641600
so it looks like maybe just a 4 or 5 day hold. If the state rereleases it with clear messaging about vaccine safety, this isn’t too terrible a delay.
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Re variants
Get as many vaccinated as soon as possible. The faster we can knock it down the less opportunity there will for variants and the less spread for particular new ones to multiply.
Thankfully the mRNA technology will allow for rapid changes if we do have to deal with antigenic drift large enough to avoid vaccine acquired immunity.
Do not be surprised if we need to beat this thing back 3-4 times over the coming years. But the key is getting it knocked down now.
My dad and my sister(both NYC residents) had vaccine appointments scheduled for next week but both received an email this morning pushing them back one week. Am in too good of a mood to be terribly worried about it rn but the reality of this mess is going to snap me back to earth if the delays keep happening.
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We could almost stop the flu with this mRNA technology if the public actually gave a rip about doing that.
nah too many combos of H/N, too easily mutated and reservoirs. COVID could be destroyed like MERS or SARS though.
I am still very optimistic about the vaccines especially since there are still promising vaccines that use different techniques in the pipeline. Novavax is one of them. I think at this point worse case is yearly or so vaccinations that make covid annoying but not deadly.
Moms got a vaccine appointment for next wednesday! Moderna
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Watch out y’all! Czech Republic is vaccinating 12,000 people per day.
This means 80% of the population will be vaccinated by January 2023! Setting records baby!
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Dunno if it’s happening elsewhere, but France is making an effort to get people to wear surgical masks or ones manufactured to the same standard. So advising against home-made or ‘artisanal’ ones. With the stuff around the possible infectious leap by the British variant we switched to FFP2 (N95 more-or-less) all the time a few weeks back, but before then we were mostly part of the artisanal sector. The advice continues to be that the public doesn’t need FFP2, but they are fairly easily available now. Germany has started mandating FFP2 in some places, I think.
Is anywhere else starting to get more serious on mask advice?
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UK scientific advisors to government reported that new UK variant takes herd immunity requirements from ~70% to ~80% vaccinated
It’s one (of the many) things that irritates me about the Govt response to this - UK but I’m sure it applies elsewhere - and that is the lack of public informatiion films/pages on the topic especially related to masks - (or I’ve just missed them).
Some forms of face covering are useless and, in the case of the neck gaiter, can even make things worse. Neck gaiters, bandannas and knitted shouldn’t be accepted and single, and even double, layer cotton should be avoided - and if you insist on wearing a valved mask cover/close the valve.
I found this NY Post article useful although it would be great with an extra layer of detail.
People also need to demonstrated to on how to put on and take off their masks - don’t touch the part that covers your mouth and nose ffs.
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Ours our 2 ply with a pocket, so 4 ply in front of the mouth/nose. Added blue cloth early on, but have just switch to the KN95 when we want better.
For anything other than incidental exposure - KN95 is used instead or in addition (when I had to fly).
I may have missed it, is there actual data on the variants and masking or just speculation/erring on the side of caution.
Our primary shift since the surge is less time in public and much more particular when grocery shopping is done. Google maps is pretty good at how “busy” it is.
I don’t think it’s much yet, but I found what I read that triggered me to think about masks again more. It’s a study finding that people with the British variant have bigger viral loads in their respiratory tract. So a decent assumption that they’re putting out more when they talk, cough, sneeze etc.
I could have sworn CaffeineNeeded said an N95 mask needs to be properly fitted, which is apparently not an easy or pleasant thing, or else you’re better off with one of the better non-N95 options.
I’ve wondered about this for a while but I’m not sure if I just misunderstood what I read.
My employer (a college) reports that in NY higher ed teachers with face-to-face assignments are eligible, but will still need to participate in weekly COVID-19 testing post-vaccine. Because of:
**There is no evidence that immunity exists after vaccination; therefore, weekly testing during the spring semester is still required following vaccination.
This seems, uh, dubious to me.
I think this is true but there’s certainly lots of youtubes about doing it. I don’t think it should be beyond us. The ones we have I don’t really see how they could be worse than a surgical mask, but I have no expertise and I’m sure that’s possible with different masks as well.
They are less pleasant to wear, but we never do anything that would mean wearing them for longer than a few hours at most (and that’s outside where I think masks in general are more about habit and communicating good practice etc.)
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The way a proper fitting was described sounds too unpleasant for extended use for sure. I’m back in my office for eight hours a day. Thankfully down to only two guys who haven’t already caught it and recovered.
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I don’t see how a relatively poorly fitted N95 could be worse than the alternative either but I would defer to people who know about these things. I would like to understand it better though.
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My guess is that as they’re more rigid, if you don’t get a good seal then you can have a (relatively) large gap between your face and the mask. The ones we have are more rigid but still flexible at the edge so I don’t think it’s possible to leave gaps even as large as the ones round a surgical mask (unless you really tried). On that score, though, an ‘artisanal’ mask I have that’s elasticated all round seems the best.
Should probably let people with knowledge post, though.
I don’t know what I’d wear if I were in an office all day. That must be rough, sorry.
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