Octopus Overlords

The 45-year-old patient had been sick with coronavirus for months. Doctors had given him the antiviral drug remdesivir to fight the virus, anticoagulation drugs to prevent blood clots, immune modulators to try to control his out-of-control immune response and steroids to fight inflammation.
He'd been home on and off but never seemed able fully recover. His blood oxygen would drop, although tests indicated he was negative for the virus.

It turns out it was just what doctors both knew and feared would happen -- the virus was evolving in the patient's body.
"We sequenced the virus from the first episode, from the second episode, and continued to sequence as the patient was admitted again and again," Li told CNN.

At first, the goal was simply to see if the patient was getting repeated new infections, or had developed a chronic infection with the same virus.
The genetic tests not only showed the man had been infected with the same virus all along, but that it had been evolving as it replicated. "It was incredible," Li said.

Over the next few weeks the patient -- who had an underlying condition that weakened his immunity -- developed a range of symptoms. Five months after he first tested positive, the patient was put on a ventilator to help him breathe. He developed an invasive fungal infection, and died 154 days into his illness.
An autopsy showed his lungs and spleen were laden with virus. And the mutations were especially common in what's known as the receptor binding domain of the spike gene -- which codes for the knob-like structures the virus uses to dock onto the cells it infects.
Looking back, Li says, the resemblance is clear. They're the same mutations that are worrying scientists watching the so-called South African, UK and Brazilian variants known as B.1.351, B.1.1.7 and P.1.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds' new Emergency Proclamation starting Sunday:

ENDS MASK MANDATE
NO LIMITS ON PUBLIC GATHERINGS
RESTAURANTS CAN PACK BARS - NO LIMITS

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 11:20 pm I didn't know that Leeroy Jenkins was a public health protocol.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 10:43 pm I haven't heard much about that linked article. But I did see that Iowa is now open for business:

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds' new Emergency Proclamation starting Sunday:

ENDS MASK MANDATE
NO LIMITS ON PUBLIC GATHERINGS
RESTAURANTS CAN PACK BARS - NO LIMITS

I guess I missed the memo that the pandemic was over. Good luck Iowans.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat Feb 06, 2021 7:42 pm Wonder when the normal populace can go to a place and pick their vaccine?

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Sat Feb 06, 2021 7:57 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat Feb 06, 2021 7:42 pm Wonder when the normal populace can go to a place and pick their vaccine?

Many months from now.

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Feb 06, 2021 10:50 pm I said I was holding out for the sugar cube version. Good news! The first oral covid vaccine is in phase 1 trials. OK, it's a tablet, not a sugar cube, but they have to start somewhere.

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Sun Feb 07, 2021 12:39 am

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Feb 06, 2021 10:50 pm I said I was holding out for the sugar cube version. Good news! The first oral covid vaccine is in phase 1 trials. OK, it's a tablet, not a sugar cube, but they have to start somewhere.

http://octopusoverlords.com/forum/viewt ... 9#p2800249

Kraken wrote: ↑Sun Feb 07, 2021 1:33 am

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Sun Feb 07, 2021 12:39 am

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Feb 06, 2021 10:50 pm I said I was holding out for the sugar cube version. Good news! The first oral covid vaccine is in phase 1 trials. OK, it's a tablet, not a sugar cube, but they have to start somewhere.

http://octopusoverlords.com/forum/viewt ... 9#p2800249

Go ahead. Say BAM! You know you want to,

Announcing that indoor dining would reopen at 25% capacity in New York City on Valentine’s Day, and wedding receptions could also resume with up to 150 people a month after, Cuomo suggested: “You propose on Valentine’s Day and then you can have the wedding ceremony March 15, up to 150 people. People will actually come to your wedding because you can tell them, with the testing, it will be safe. … No pressure, but it’s just an idea.”

Cuomo isn’t alone in taking measures to loosen pandemic-related restrictions. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer allowed indoor dining to resume at 25% capacity starting Feb. 1. Idaho Gov. Brad Little increased limits on indoor gatherings from 10 to 50 people. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is raising business capacity from 25% to 40%, including at restaurants and gyms. California Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted stay-at-home orders on Jan. 25.

To justify their reopening decisions, governors point to falling case counts. “We make decisions based on facts,” Cuomo said. “New York City numbers are down.”

But epidemiologists and public health experts say a crucial factor is missing from these calculations: the threat of new viral variants. One coronavirus variant, which originated in the United Kingdom and is now spreading in the U.S., is believed to be 50% more transmissible. The more cases there are, the faster new variants can spread. Because the baseline of case counts in the U.S. is already so high — we’re still averaging about 130,000 new cases a day — and because the spread of the virus grows exponentially, cases could easily climb past the 300,000-per-day peak we reached in early January if we underestimate the variants, experts said.

Furthermore, study after study has identified indoor spaces — particularly restaurants, where consistent masking is not possible — as some of the highest-risk locations for transmission to occur. Even with distanced tables, case studies have shown that droplets can travel long distances within dining establishments, sometimes helped along by air conditioning.

We’re just in the opening stage of the new variants’ arrival in the United States. Experts say we could speed viruses’ spread by providing them with superspreading playgrounds or slow them down by starving them of opportunities to replicate.

Fauci urged states to “double down on your public health measures … to have virtually everybody wear masks, to have everyone maintain social distance, to have everybody avoid congregate settings, and to have everybody wash their hands very frequently.”

And don’t wait until it’s too late, warned Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

“We are so good at pumping the brakes after we’ve wrapped the car around the tree,” he said. The new variants aren’t being complacent. “There’s still a lot of human wood out there for this coronavirus to burn.”

“We are so good at pumping the brakes after we’ve wrapped the car around the tree,”

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Sat Feb 06, 2021 7:57 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat Feb 06, 2021 7:42 pm Wonder when the normal populace can go to a place and pick their vaccine?

Many months from now.

Defiant wrote: ↑Sun Feb 07, 2021 3:05 am

Kraken wrote: ↑Sun Feb 07, 2021 1:33 am

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Sun Feb 07, 2021 12:39 am

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Feb 06, 2021 10:50 pm I said I was holding out for the sugar cube version. Good news! The first oral covid vaccine is in phase 1 trials. OK, it's a tablet, not a sugar cube, but they have to start somewhere.

http://octopusoverlords.com/forum/viewt ... 9#p2800249

Go ahead. Say BAM! You know you want to,

http://octopusoverlords.com/forum/viewt ... 1#p2795091

BAM!

I'm going to share a cautionary tale with you. When Dr Fauci said either wear an N95 mask or double your masks when you wear them, do it. Because even when you think it'll be ok to just wear the one lightweight mask when you're around someone for 10-15 minutes, you're not safe. I've been so safe, you guys. SO. SAFE. This past year, I've had to have a plumber in my house and an electrician. We all kept our distance and wore N95 masks and we were ok. Two weeks ago, someone I knew stopped by to pick up stuff I was donating. She is SO careful as well. BUT..She had to get an emergency root canal a couple of days prior to coming to my house. I'm an idiot and grabbed the blue medical mask (she wore same thing) and we briefly passed each other in my doorway carrying stuff to her car. Next day she wasn't feeling well, tested positive. About 4 days later I started feeling run down. Next day, bad headache, then painful lymph nodes in my neck, pressure up high in my chest, body aches, low fever. So I got tested, so did Wil. Difference is Wil wore an N95 mask when she was here and was like 15 feet away from her.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 4:42 pm Always grateful when celebrities share their stories (no snark) because it helps reinforce the message:

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 5:13 pm something wacky about magnets

CDC conducted experiments last month to test the effectiveness of mask combinations at reducing the amount of particles released during a cough. A three-ply surgical mask blocked 42% of particles from a simulated cough, and a three-ply cloth mask blocked 44%. But a cloth mask covering a medical mask blocked 92% of the particles, the report said.

In a second experiment, a dummy wearing double masks and one wearing a knotted/tucked medical mask reduced exposure for an unmasked dummy by 82% and 62%, respectively. When one dummy was not wearing any masks and the one acting as the bystander wore a double mask or a knotted/tucked medical mask, the bystander’s exposure was reduced by 83% and 64.5%, respectively.

But when both dummies wore double masks or knotted/tucked medical masks, the bystander’s exposure was reduced by more than 95% in both situations.

Brooks cautioned against generalizing the numeric findings of the studies, however. The experiments used one type of cotton mask and one type of medical mask in a laboratory, “not with human beings,”he said.

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Wed Feb 10, 2021 3:50 pm https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... -variants/

CDC conducted experiments last month to test the effectiveness of mask combinations at reducing the amount of particles released during a cough. A three-ply surgical mask blocked 42% of particles from a simulated cough, and a three-ply cloth mask blocked 44%. But a cloth mask covering a medical mask blocked 92% of the particles, the report said.

In a second experiment, a dummy wearing double masks and one wearing a knotted/tucked medical mask reduced exposure for an unmasked dummy by 82% and 62%, respectively. When one dummy was not wearing any masks and the one acting as the bystander wore a double mask or a knotted/tucked medical mask, the bystander’s exposure was reduced by 83% and 64.5%, respectively.

But when both dummies wore double masks or knotted/tucked medical masks, the bystander’s exposure was reduced by more than 95% in both situations.

Brooks cautioned against generalizing the numeric findings of the studies, however. The experiments used one type of cotton mask and one type of medical mask in a laboratory, “not with human beings,”he said.

so by this logic, wouldn't SIX LAYERS also provide 90%+ protection? i'm getting one.

https://www.tombihn.com/products/v6mask ... 4876538045

(i have the V3 and the V4 - both are by far the best facial coverings i have tried, but the V3 is in a class of its own)

https://www.tombihn.com/collections/fac ... 5238960191
https://www.tombihn.com/collections/fac ... 2416988223

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Wed Feb 10, 2021 3:50 pm https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... -variants/

CDC conducted experiments last month to test the effectiveness of mask combinations at reducing the amount of particles released during a cough. A three-ply surgical mask blocked 42% of particles from a simulated cough, and a three-ply cloth mask blocked 44%. But a cloth mask covering a medical mask blocked 92% of the particles, the report said.

In a second experiment, a dummy wearing double masks and one wearing a knotted/tucked medical mask reduced exposure for an unmasked dummy by 82% and 62%, respectively. When one dummy was not wearing any masks and the one acting as the bystander wore a double mask or a knotted/tucked medical mask, the bystander’s exposure was reduced by 83% and 64.5%, respectively.

But when both dummies wore double masks or knotted/tucked medical masks, the bystander’s exposure was reduced by more than 95% in both situations.

Brooks cautioned against generalizing the numeric findings of the studies, however. The experiments used one type of cotton mask and one type of medical mask in a laboratory, “not with human beings,”he said.

so by this logic, wouldn't SIX LAYERS also provide 90%+ protection? i'm getting one.

https://www.tombihn.com/products/v6mask ... 4876538045

(i have the V3 and the V4 - both are by far the best facial coverings i have tried, but the V3 is in a class of its own)

https://www.tombihn.com/collections/fac ... 5238960191
https://www.tombihn.com/collections/fac ... 2416988223

Daehawk wrote: ↑Wed Feb 10, 2021 8:36 pm That Wil wife post. She said that woman was there 2 weeks ago and she caught it from her. But Wil is ok? Do they wear n95 masks at home and to sleep in? Why hasn't he caught it from his wife yet?

Daehawk wrote: ↑Wed Feb 10, 2021 8:36 pm That Wil wife post. She said that woman was there 2 weeks ago and she caught it from her. But Wil is ok? Do they wear n95 masks at home and to sleep in? Why hasn't he caught it from his wife yet?

Fully vaccinated persons who meet criteria will no longer be required to quarantine following an exposure to someone with COVID19

Smoove_B wrote:This is kind of a big deal.

Fully vaccinated persons who meet criteria will no longer be required to quarantine following an exposure to someone with COVID19

msteelers wrote: ↑Thu Feb 11, 2021 5:28 am

Smoove_B wrote:This is kind of a big deal.

Fully vaccinated persons who meet criteria will no longer be required to quarantine following an exposure to someone with COVID19

Any word yet on masks for people fully vaccinated?