#Coronavirus Testing

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Arthur Delaney at HuffPost:

Former President Donald Trump kept in touch with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Trump left office, according to “War,” a new book by famed reporter Bob Woodward. An aide to Trump told Woodward he was once asked to leave a room at Trump’s home in Florida so he could have a private phone call with Putin. “According to Trump’s aide, there have been multiple phone calls between Trump and Putin, maybe as many as seven in the period since Trump left the White House in 2021,” Woodward wrote, according to CNN, which obtained a copy of the book ahead of its release later this month.

Trump has spoken fondly of Putin over the years; he used the words “genius” and “savvy” to describe Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, for instance. Trump claimed to have been the victim of a “witch hunt” when the Justice Department investigated his 2016 campaign’s contacts with Russian sources. Woodward reported in “War” that Avril Haines, President Joe Biden’s Director of National Intelligence, said she didn’t know whether Trump and Putin have spoken. “I wouldn’t purport to speak to what President Trump may or may not have done,” Haines said, according to Woodward.

[...] Another revelation in Woodward’s new title is that Trump sent Putin a secret shipment of COVID-19 testing equipment in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, when tests could sometimes be hard to come by. Putin reportedly begged Trump not to tell. “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me,” Putin said, according to Woodward. “They don’t care about me.”

Bob Woodward’s soon-to-be released book War revealed that Donald Trump had multiple phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin since leaving office and that he sent Russia a shipment of COVID-19 testing equipment while ignoring our nation during a time of crisis when COVID was ravaging the entire world in 2020.

See Also:

CNN: ‘That son of a bitch’: New Woodward book War reveals candid behind-the-scenes conversations of Biden, Trump, Harris and Putin

[personal-blog243]

The article includes a link to sign up for any Americans who want more free tests

[covid-safer-hotties]

Reference saved on our archive

By Amanda Blum

PCR tests are far superior to rapid antigen tests—and now you can get them for home use.

Last week, I was about to go on a date, and because I'm severely immunocompromised, we agreed he would take a COVID test using one of my rapid home PCR tests. It was a courtesy—he felt perfectly fine— but he tested positive. By the next day, he was sick as a dog. And, by the way, the rapid antigen test he took when he got home that night was negative.

Regardless of how you much of a health risk you see in COVID, it is still, at best, an inconvenience that costs you days off work. A simple home PCR test saved me from that inconvenience (and worse), and if I'd relied on the common rapid antigen test or done nothing at all, I would probably be sick right now.

While the world has desperately attempted to move on from COVID, this summer saw the highest case loads since 2022, with a winter surge just around the corner. Almost 300,000 people died from COVID in the US over the last three months alone, so while the pandemic has transitioned into endemic, according to the CDC, there are still risks to be aware of. Around 400 million people worldwide have long COVID, where symptoms can range from annoying to absolutely debilitating, regardless of your age, pre-COVID health, or fitness levels. Cases of long COVID are crushing our medical system, too. The two best tools to avoid getting COVID continue to be masking and testing. Unfortunately, the PCR testing centers that used to be available in each city have long closed, and obtaining a PCR has become expensive and hard to locate. This is why home testing kits are so important.

While you may be used to thinking of COVID tests as interchangeable, there’s a big difference between the standard at-home antigen test and a PCR (molecular) test. Almost five years in, it’s important to understand why PCR tests are the ones you want when accurate testing is important.

The difference between a PCR and a Rapid Antigen Test What you normally think of as a home COVID test—like the kind you can order for free from the government—is a rapid antigen test. When these at-home COVID tests became available, they were a powerful tool to help people know they were positive so they could isolate themselves from others. Almost all at-home tests were lateral flow tests, also known as rapid antigen tests (RATs). They measure for proteins on the outside of SARS-C0V-2, but they have a major flaw: They can only detect active virus. If you’re asymptomatic or don’t have a high viral load yet, the RAT may show negative results while you have an active and contagious infection.

This is why, if you already have symptoms, a negative antigen test isn't conclusive. You may need to test a number of times to confirm you have COVID. When you first get sick, you may go a number of days (as many as five) without enough virus to set off a positive RAT test. RATs were designed to be taken multiple times in sequence.

A PCR, also known as a NAAT or molecular test, measures RNA and can detect even small amounts of the virus. This is why it has always been considered the “gold standard” of COVID testing. These tests are generally considered accurate starting one to three days before you experience symptoms. Until last year, you needed to get a PCR from a testing center, but home tests have evolved and there are now four rapid, at-home molecular COVID tests, meaning you test and get a result within 30 minutes.

Why we still need COVID testing The world is now divided into people who view COVID as part of regular life and those who, due to chronic illness, immune issues, previous infections, or age, cannot afford to get infected. For a long time, we viewed COVID testing as something you do for your own health, but home PCR testing represents a way you can easily protect those vulnerable people in your life without cutting them off from society.

But even if you're not concerned about others, you should still care about protecting yourself from multiple infections. While the likelihood you will die of COVID has gone down dramatically due to vaccines, medical interventions, and natural immunity from infection, the news has not done a great job talking about long COVID. As people get infected two, three, four, and more times, they are playing against the odds. It’s estimated that one in 10—or even as many as one in five—infections leads to long COVID, and to explain how much it’s not “just the flu,” COVID is now considered to be a vascular illness. That means it affects the blood vessels in your body, which go everywhere. Thinking of COVID as a vascular illness helps explain why long COVID is everything from extreme fatigue to migraines to numbness in your extremities, loss of smell and taste, extreme fatigue, and neurological and cardiovascular conditions.

While lots of people no longer even test to see if they have COVID, there are a few reasons to get a definitive answer. First, you can only get the intervention Paxlovid within the first five days of symptoms. Anti-virals like Paxlovid knock down your viral load, one of the things we think helps prevent long COVID. Second, no one knows who will get long COVID, and you might need proof of that positive test in the future for insurance or benefits or even to justify sick days.

Lastly, you need to get tested because it is hard to know when you have COVID. Symptoms of COVID include headache, body ache, fever, sniffles, congestion, fatigue, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of smell or taste. In other words, absolutely anything out of the ordinary. While a RAT is unreliable for safe socializing with people for the reasons explained above, a molecular test can pretty reliably clear someone to come in your house that day, or be in close proximity. In that way, these molecular tests can be a tool to help immunocompromised people back into the world and make multigenerational celebrations safer.

How to get a molecular/PCR test Outside of your home, your main options now are urgent care clinics and places that do testing for travel. In both cases, they’ll be expensive. In the case of urgent care, they’ll put you in the same space as all the sick people, who are now no longer required to mask in healthcare settings, so if you don't already have COVID, you might pick it up there. Fortunately, there are molecular (PCR quality) tests you can take at home.

Rapid molecular tests require a similar effort on your part as a RAT test. You’ll swab yourself and then insert that swab into a machine that gives you a result. There are currently just four brands of these tests available: Lucira, Metrix, 3EO, and PlusLife. Unlike RAT tests, you have to order them, although Metrix and Lucira tests are available on Amazon, and Walgreens stocks Lucira tests in select stores. For a long time, they were just too expensive for most people, so they were relegated to the likes of movie sets, law firms, and Google employees. Prices have gone down, so now they’re more accessible—as low as $10 a test. Here are your options.

Follow the link to see the full review with relevant links!

[chena-h]

Reducing the covid isolation period to 1 day - a single day- when an infection can be contagious for up to 21 days is... unbelievably cruel.

[theoverstimulated]

If you're interested in building community and acting in solidarity, this week's post is a short piece about an easy action you can take today.

[shootingstarpilot]

fuck me with a rusty rake, i guess

[macmanx]

The tests can be ordered on COVIDtests.gov and will start to ship the week of Dec. 19, a senior administration official told reporters on a conference call. The government is urging people to test themselves when they have symptoms, and before visiting with family.

[iliveinprocrasti-nationn]

fauci saying “vulnerable people will fall by the wayside” and that some will die but that’s ok because we’re not going to see the “tsunami of cases” we’ve seen before is so dehumanising. so babies with no immune system, elderly people, disabled people, and people without adequate access to healthcare can all die of covid. but it’s ok guys because actually they’re just falling to the wayside and everyone else will go back to normal and be fine (sarcasm).

my death or the deaths of my family or friends wouldn’t be us “falling by the wayside”, it would be us being failed by our government, healthcare systems, and communities who have refused to take coronavirus seriously despite mounting anecdotal and scientific evidence of the harm this virus does. fact that people can accept the deaths of vulnerable groups just because they want to eat in a restaurant or don’t want to wear a mask is horrifying

[crimeronan]

dreamt i infiltrated some fortune 500 company owned by elon musk with no goal except to see how long i could work there without getting caught. told the manager "oh, can you help me out, i don't think you guys finished my onboarding yet" & he just set me up with my own account on their training modules without checking my ID. intermittently i kept remembering i have COVID and going "no wait i shouldnt be here" and then going "eh. it's an elon musk company. it's fine"

....GIRL???

your ETHICS?????

[tweedfrog]

[tomorrowusa]

A more accurate slogan for the Trump 2024 campaign...

☭ Putting Putin First ☭

Even the Kremlin admits that Trump gave Putin COVID-19 testing devices at a time when they were rare and badly needed by Americans.

Kremlin refutes Trump denial on sending Putin COVID tests

Did Trump, the savvy business genius, even make Putin pay for those testing materials? 🤔

Do you know any of the people experiencing Trumpnesia? They need a gentle reminder of how Trump's incompetent response to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US led to hundreds of thousands of additional deaths and a chain of events which screwed the economy starting with the recession which began in March of 2020.

This clip is from 11 March 2020. It features Rep. Adam Schiff speaking with MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell. This is around the time Trump was sending COVID testing equipment to Putin while Americans were becoming increasingly worried about the spread of the virus.

Rep. Schiff: "And because there's so little testing, we don't know how widespread this is on the Hill – let alone anywhere else in the country."

Of course the Kremlin was covered while people were already dying in the US.

Some context. The virus first appeared in the US on January 22nd. Trump dismissed it as unimportant and downplayed it from day one.

We know it wasn't "just fine". Trump continued to do stupid Trumpian things like criticize the Oscar awards on Twitter as COVID spread throughout the US. He did not declare a state of emergency until Friday the 13th of March – 51 days after the first case was discovered in the US and two days after Rep. Schiff's comments above.

If you like stats, here are some from Scientific American from a few weeks after Trump left office. .

In the final year of Donald Trump’s presidency, more than 450,000 Americans died from COVID-19, and life expectancy fell by 1.13 years, the biggest decrease since World War II. Many of the deaths were avoidable; COVID-19 mortality in the U.S. was 40 percent higher than the average of the other wealthy nations in the Group of Seven (G7). [ ... ] However, we also found that Americans' health began lagging before Trump took office. In 1980, U.S. life expectancy was similar to that of other G7 nations; by 2018 it was 3.4 years shorter. 461,000 deaths would have been averted in 2018 if U.S. life expectancy had kept pace with the rest of the G7. That’s equivalent to the number of Americans who died from COVID-19 last year. Faced with the pandemic, Trump suppressed scientific data, delayed testing, mocked and blocked mask-wearing, and convened mass gatherings where social distancing was impossible.

When those afflicted with Trumpnesia describe how wonderful the Trump years were, ask them if having their life spans shortened was one of the highlights of those years.

[coldhearthotlove]

*sees new posts about the importance of masking, social distancing, sanitizing your hands, taking COVID safety precautions, etc.*

🙂

*the posts are actually from 2020 and the OPs who made the original posts don’t actually care anymore - and have recent photos of themselves on social media at crowded events without wearing masks*

☹️

[covid-safer-hotties]

Reference archived on our website (Updates daily!)

Summary

Background

SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid detection tests (RDTs) emerged as point-of-care diagnostics alongside reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) as reference.

Methods

In a prospective performance assessment from 12 November 2020 to 30 June 2023 at a single centre tertiary care hospital, the sensitivity and specificity (primary endpoints) of RDTs from three manufacturers (NADAL®, Panbio™, MEDsan®) were compared to RT-qPCR as reference standard among patients, accompanying persons and staff aged ≥ six month in large-scale, clinical screening use. Regression models were used to assess influencing factors on RDT performance (secondary endpoints).

Findings

Among 78,798 paired RDT/RT-qPCR results analysed, overall RDT sensitivity was 34.5% (695/2016; 95% CI 32.4–36.6%), specificity 99.6% (76,503/76,782; 95% CI 99.6–99.7%). Over the pandemic course, sensitivity decreased in line with a lower rate of individuals showing typical COVID-19 symptoms. The lasso regression model showed that a higher viral load and typical COVID-19 symptoms were directly significantly correlated with the likelihood of a positive RDT result in SARS-CoV-2 infection, whereas age, sex, vaccination status, and the Omicron VOC were not.

Interpretation

The decline in RDT sensitivity throughout the pandemic can primarily be attributed to the reduced prevalence of symptomatic infections among vaccinated individuals and individuals infected with Omicron VOC. RDTs remain valuable for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in symptomatic individuals and offer potential for detecting other respiratory pathogens in the post-pandemic era, underscoring their importance in infection control efforts.

[tumble-tv]

Me: *is bedbound with covid*

My mom: do you have any plans for tonight

Me:

My mom:

Me: WELL I DID-

[gumjrop]

The Weather

Similar to this time last year, COVID wastewater levels in many states have decreased and now remain at low levels except for the states of Tennessee and Missouri, which are at high levels. Arkansas, Alabama, Delaware, Minnesota, and Virginia have moderate viral levels detected by wastewater surveillance. This reminds us that it is important to continue the practice of precautions, especially among those most vulnerable to a COVID infection.

When considering trends in wastewater levels across all four regions, they have stopped decreasing as seen in the provisional data (gray shaded area). The national wastewater levels are indicated as “Low.” While lower wastewater levels indicate decreased spread, the risk for infection remains moderate especially as current wastewater levels remain slightly higher than previous low periods.

Wins

During the past few weeks, we have taken several actions against removing vital public health measures, especially the change in COVID isolation guidelines. This included the People’s CDC press conference from March 13, a recording and our press release are available. We also have a pre-proof of the People’s CDC External Review in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine Focus that additionally highlights the shortcomings of the CDC’s approach to public health and recommends a more equitable pandemic response. This week, we have assembled an expert letter asking the CDC to correct their COVID isolation guidelines.

Community groups continue to show us that it is possible to push back against corporate efforts to further privatize healthcare – and win. In Massachusetts, the Boston Center for Independent Living and SEIU 1199 led a successful drive to prevent cuts to publicly funded personal care attendants (PCAs) for disabled people. When we fight, we win.  

Variants

Currently, JN.1 remains the dominant variant in the US, and is 83.7% of circulating variants as of 4/13/2024, down from 88.5% on 2/3/2024. JN.1.13 has increased to 9.1%, up from 0.7% on 2/3/2024. Other variants comprise 7.2% of the remaining total. A recent study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, provided additional information on recent COVID variants that shed higher levels of wastewater; however, this cannot discount that COVID transmission remains at higher risk during rises in wastewater levels.

Hospitalizations

Total new hospital admissions caused by COVID have decreased to 7,318 during the week of April 6, 2024. Although the number of new hospital admissions are lower than the past, many counties in the US continue to experience increases in new hospital admissions. Over 25% of all counties are experiencing an increase in new COVID hospital admissions between the last week of March 2024 and the first week of April 2024. Most concerning, we still do not know the total number of hospital-acquired infections, since reporting over these numbers halted in May 2023. Despite this decrease in new hospital admissions and wastewater levels are currently at low levels nationwide, total hospitalizations do not completely reflect the current amount of circulating virus.

Prevention and Precautions

The CDC recently released guidelines to improve ventilation and implementation of air purification to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, specifically airborne pathogens. A group of scientists have also jointly published a policy statement in the academic journal Science supporting the establishment of higher standards for ventilation and the importance of air purification in indoor settings. Two studies published in the last month have validated the significance and value of both ventilation and air purification in schools and childcare centers to prevent the spread of COVID.

Vaccine uptake remains limited. Only 22.8% of adults and 14.1% of children have received the updated COVID vaccine as of 4/11/2024 -  a slight increase from 21.1% of adults and 12.8% of children on 3/10/2024. The Bridge Program remains available for those underinsured or without insurance for no-cost access to these vaccines, but may end December 31, 2024.

Long COVID

Senator Bernie Sanders, as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee, proposed draft legislation to address Long COVID. This proposal aims to allocate $1 billion annually for a decade to the NIH for Long COVID research, establish a centralized research entity and advisory board, create a rapid grant process for clinical trials, develop a patient data database, and enhance public education on Long COVID. We ask that you share your thoughts to their official contact by email specifically on allocating funding for effective treatments and specific measures in the prevention of Long COVID by April 23, 2024. Currently, Long COVID Alliance has compiled a list of active opportunities in studies and clinical trials that people with Long COVID may participate in, which may help the clinical community contribute knowledge of Long COVID and potentially support the development of effective treatments.

Take Action

An invaluable home-based program that supports testing, evaluation, and treatment for COVID, Test to Treat program, is ending on April 16, 2024. Send a letter to your local representatives to ask them to help save the program that helps so many at-risk people!

It’s been over a month since the CDC released new, irresponsible guidelines on COVID isolation which are not substantiated by scientific evidence. Our fight to take public health out of the hands of corporate interests and protect our collective well-being continues. As part of our strategy to push back, we’ve put together an expert letter to CDC Director Mandy Cohen telling her to reinstate science-based COVID isolation guidelines. We urge the CDC to consider the highly variable length of infectiousness in their recommendations and to adopt a test-based approach for ending isolation. This letter is for public health professionals, scientists, healthcare workers, disability advocates, and others who consider themselves experts in public health. Sign this letter asking the CDC to correct their updated COVID isolation guidelines.

Avian Flu (Awareness Update)

The People’s CDC is monitoring Avian Influenza (AKA “Bird Flu”) as it has been spreading in many avian and mammalian species around the world at alarming rates. The current strain of concern is subtype H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b and is highly pathogenic in poultry, causing systemic infections and rapid onset of illness and death among avian species (1). As such, this is called a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). This specific clade emerged in 2020 and has now been detected on every continent (2,3,4, 5). Over 500 species of birds and 360 species of other animals have been infected worldwide. Hundreds of thousands of wild animals have died from avian influenza since its emergence in 2020 (1, 6). Here in the U.S., at least 28 outbreaks have occurred in cattle farms (6, 7).

While human cases remain low, case fatality in humans has historically been around 50% (6). The outbreak among many non-bird animals is alarming and allows for opportunities for viral mutations that may lead to further infections among humans (1,6). The ecological consequences of such mass death around the world are currently unknown but guaranteed to be devastating as food webs are severely disrupted and conservation efforts suffer (1, 5). Humans are already feeling the direct impact of this as farmers are forced to cull entire flocks of poultry to control the spread, which may result in increased prices in the food supply (6). Humans will probably continue to feel the impacts of this historic spread, regardless of the number of human cases. We will continue to monitor the situation and share updates as the situation develops.

UC Davis

CDC

CDC

Viruses

Nature

Vox

BNO News

[mayra-quijotescx]

psst. US people. new set of 4 free COVID tests just dropped.

orders will ship starting next week, go sign yourself and your friends up, covid.gov/tests