#fever after covid-19 vaccine

[joaniejustwokeup]

Hey! You there!

Get vaccinated against the current Covid and Flu strains! Tis the Season! To Immunize Yourself!

[damnyousubdermalirritants]

UPDATE: NOVAVAX NOW AVAILABLE!!!

Hi everyone, it's been about a year since I posted about updated COVID vaccines and it's time for another update if you are in the US:

THE BRIDGE ACCESS PROGRAM IS ENDING!!!!

If you are uninsured or your insurance does not cover covid boosters, please schedule a new booster appointment before the end of August because the Bridge Access Program (the way the government will still pay for your booster) ends in September. The updated mRNA boosters from Moderna and Pfizer are available now. Go Go GO!!!

Shitty, I know! If you can call your congressional reps, the FDA, the CDC, whomever to tell them you want this program to continue/be reinstated, that would be great. Also, while you're at it, call the FDA to tell them to expedite the approval for the updated Novavax booster (3017962640).

The new Novavax vaccine is designed for the JN.1 strain which is one of the most recent mutations of the virus going around. If you have insurance and can afford to wait, I highly recommend getting the Novavax booster when it becomes available.

We are currently in the largest Covid summer surge since 2021

If you haven't had a booster in the past six months you are essentially unvaccinated. New strains with different spike proteins keep evolving faster than vaccine development and distribution can keep up. All that said, getting Covid is not a moral failing. If you do feel sick, take a rapid test! If it's negative, test again a day or two later. It is better to know than not to know. Here's a refresh on how to take a rapid test correctly:

If you do get Covid, it is worth getting on antiretrovirals within the first week of symptoms to reduce the overall viral load your body has to fight. If your insurance doesn't cover Paxlovid or Remdesivir, here are other low/no-cost ways to access it:

If you get sick, rest radically even after you stop testing positive on rapid tests. Avoid exercising for at least eight weeks after the fact to reduce the risk of developing long covid.

Regardless of your vaccination status, masking with a KN95 or N95 respirator (or equivalent standards in your country i.e. FFP2/3 in the EU) is the most reliable way to protect yourself and others. If Covid protections are a financial burden, there is likely an active Mask Bloc near you doing free distribution of respirators and tests that would be happy to help you. Here's a global map of them from covidactionmap.org

Some quick tips: if you're wearing a bi-fold mask, flatten the nose-bridge wire completely, then mold it to your nose on your face for a better fit. The best mask is the one that you will actually wear regularly to protect yourself. I really like the selection of styles, sizes and colors from WellBefore:

As school is starting, getting you and your family boosted is one of the best things you can do to protect yourselves. Masking is perhaps even more important. If you can advocate for updating and regularly changing the HVAC filters at your local schools to MERV-13 or higher to keep the indoor air cleaner, that can also make a big difference. Better indoor air quality in schools helps protect kids from illness, allergies, wildfire smoke, and more per the EPA's website.

These are steps you can take to improve air quality at home as well. Corsi-Rosenthal boxes are low-cost and highly effective for cleaning the air indoors.

Here's a map of clean air lending libraries for getting access to air purifiers for events from cleanairclub.org

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive

By Pandora Dewan

Levels of the virus that causes COVID-19 remain high across the U.S. despite recent decreases in positive case reports across the country. However, viral activity varies significantly across different states, new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows.

As of September 21, the overall viral activity level in wastewater across the country has been demoted from "very high" to just "high," although "very high" levels are still being detected in 13 states. These are particularly concentrated in the Midwest. Twenty-one states now exhibit "high" levels of wastewater activity, and nine are classed as "moderate."

Meanwhile, "low" levels have been detected in six states, with "minimal" levels, the lowest classification, seen in New York.

After a surge in COVID-19 cases this summer, infection rates seem to be on the decline. Positive tests now account for 11.6 percent of all COVID tests (excluding at-home testing) in the U.S., down 1.8 percent from the previous week. Coronavirus levels do remain high in certain states, especially those in the Central U.S.

The map below shows which states have seen the highest detections in wastewater.

(Follow link for interactive map)

Viral levels in wastewater are a helpful indicator of disease prevalence within a population.

Recent spikes in COVID-19 cases have been largely driven by a new class of subvariants nicknamed FLiRT after the position of the mutations on the virus' spike proteins, the projections that allow them to enter our cells.

These proteins are also used as targets by immune systems and vaccinations, so changes in their structure can allow the virus to bypass the body's defenses more easily. However, existing vaccines are likely to provide at least some form of protection against more severe symptoms and long COVID.

As of September 28, the now dominant subvariant, KP.3.1.1, accounted for more than 59 percent of all U.S. COVID-19 cases over the previous two weeks, according to the CDC, with the FLiRT variants accounting for more than 80 percent of cases in total.

However, while the U.S. has seen a steady rise in infections over the summer, hospitalizations and deaths have remained relatively low. It appears that the new FLiRT variants, while more infectious, do not generally cause such severe symptoms.

The symptoms include the following, according to the CDC:

Fever or chills Cough Shortness of breath Fatigue Muscle or body aches Headache Loss of taste or smell Sore throat Runny nose Nausea or vomiting Diarrhea

More vulnerable individuals may still be at risk of severe illness, so it is important to self-isolate if you receive a positive COVID test.

[scarletjedi]

So, school has started once more, so my wife and I went yesterday for our flu and Covid boosters- we got the new booster that just came out, and if you were waiting to get it because of possible side effects, I wanted to record my experience.

1) pain at time of injection- present, but mild compared to previous years. There was a flash of deeper pain about an hour later, but that faded too.

2) sore arm- It’s now been almost 19 hours and it feels like a bruise rather where the bandaid is rather than the full on hurt myself at the gym soreness from previous years.

3) headache- none

4) chills- none

5) fever- none

6) gastric distress- none

7) sore neck- could be? But I often have stiff and sore neck muscles because of how I sit at my craft table. So, I don’t k own if it’s related.

They say side effects, if any, appear 8-12 hours after injection and last for maybe 48 hours. Like I said, it’s been about 19. I’m a little sore and a little tired, but otherwise I’m fine. Get vaccinated.

[darkmaga-returns]

As of October 15, 2024, CDC has released more than half of the anticipated 7.8 million entries of V-safe free-text entries. ICAN’s analysis of the entries released so far reveals almost 12,000 reports of kidney pain, kidney stones, or kidney infections.

As many of you already know, V-safe was developed by CDC for individuals to report symptoms after COVID-19 vaccination. This month, we decided to look at V-safe reports of kidney issues.

We know from other vaccines that vaccination can negatively affect kidney function, causing harm far from the injection site. Sadly, it doesn’t occur to most people that an injection in their arm can harm a distant system of their body. But as ICAN has reported again and again, all body systems can be impacted by vaccination.

A 2024 study found a “strong causal relationship” between COVID-19 vaccination and kidney diseases such as acute interstitial nephritis (inflammation of kidneys) and podocytopathy (injury to special cells in the kidney). A 2022 study found a correlation between acute kidney injury (AKI) and COVID-19 vaccination and that “AKI following the COVID-19 vaccines led to poor prognosis, with 19.78% death in the Pfizer-BNT group, 17.78% in MODERNA, and 12.36% in JANSSEN.”

The V-safe app entries—most made in just the first few days and weeks following vaccination—reveal many reports of kidney pain, the abrupt development of kidney stones, and hospitalization for kidney infections. Here are a few examples:

“Infection of Kidneys and UTI. Blood in urine and kidney stone on left kidney.”

“I’m in the hospital right now Because I’m still peeing blood they think it’s kidney stones.”

“Kidney stone requiring emergency surgery, ureteral stent placement and subsequent removal; UTI.”

“Intermittent stabbing, pulsing pain around left kidney.”

“Severe flank pain (I think it’s a kidney stone) I’m in the ER”

“Diagnosis with new onset kidney stone”

“Severe kidney infection back pain fever”

Readers will not be surprised to learn CDC doesn’t recognize kidney issues as adverse events related to COVID-19 vaccination, despite CDC’s access to this same V-safe data in real time as the vaccines were rolled out. ICAN will continue to do CDC’s job for it and bring attention to these dangerous and sometimes life-threatening conditions.

[safaiagem]

Welcome to another Work in Progress Wednesday! So, if we're getting technical, this story is completed, but I want a chance to give it at least one or two read-throughs because one day, I was writing with a fever because I reacted very strongly to the COVID-19 vaccine [get your shots!] This fic is a little over 7k at the moment, but I'm not sure what the final word count will be once we get the edits in. This fic serves as a pretty decent follow-up to events that take place in both Sleeping Wake/Waking Sleep and The Hour of Separation, but I do try to make sure to give enough details so you can understand more or less what happened. On The Brink Of Hell should be posted in the next day or two and I'm about to start outlining another one-shot in this verse.

"I was wondering when you were going to turn up," Johanna said, and she was not going to call attention to the fact that her voice cracked; she absolutely refused, even if she knew Dream would never judge her for showing weakness.

"The memory and nightmare do not happen every night, and since you have asked me not to interfere with them, this is what I can do for you," Dream replied. He moved across her room almost silently, but Johanna could very much feel his presence as he sat down next to her on the couch. Not long ago, she would have shied away from taking comfort like this, but she leaned into Dream and let him hold her for a moment. "Something else is troubling you."

"Sometimes I think I shouldn't have shown you my tells," Johanna replied, but there wasn't any humor behind it. She sat up and looked at the notebook in her hands. "Edwin, when I first met him and Charles, I said I wouldn't work for free, so I asked for something. You could see it as much as I could, the scars that hell left on his soul, and he told me that he found his own way out." Dream seemed to go very still at her side. "It wasn't a portal or anything we need to worry about; it was a door that was closed after he went through it, so no worries there. He was sent back, and Charles used his notes and map as a guide to go down and pull Edwin out again. So, I asked for his map out of hell for payment."

[autisticadvocacy]

ASAN is deeply troubled by reports made by The Washington Post this Tuesday that the CDC is planning to change its COVID-19 isolation guidelines. ASAN condemns the potential new guidelines, which would remove the five-day isolation period currently recommended after a positive test for COVID-19. Instead, people with a positive test result would not need to isolate if they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the aid of medication. 

ASAN has spoken repeatedly on the failures of the US government to respond adequately to COVID-19. Despite the ongoing pandemic, the end of the public health emergency and subsequent Medicaid unwinding have been devastating to the disability community and other marginalized communities. Efforts to encourage adherence to masking guidance and improve indoor air quality have been underwhelming. Through their actions, the CDC and US Government as a whole have indicated the strategy to combat COVID-19 is seemingly a vaccine-only response, but, with adult uptake of the latest bivalent booster being only 21.9%, even these efforts are beyond inadequate. 

This change is particularly alarming given who is likely to be among the most impacted. Changing the isolation window disproportionately exposes and affects vulnerable populations such as disabled and immunocompromised people, older adults, and other high-risk groups. These guidelines would increase COVID-19 exposure and make people at high risk of poor outcomes from COVID-19 less safe in a range of public and private spaces. 

Asymptomatic spread remains a serious concern with the latest variants. Reduced access to at-home and PCR testing since the end of the public health emergency contributes to transmission. Removing the isolation window adds increased pressure to return to school and work while potentially infectious. This will disproportionately affect individuals with hourly jobs that must be performed in person and families with children that are lower-income and families of color, as many communities aggressively enforce truancy laws against these households. Counting on the availability of treatments like Paxlovid as a mitigation strategy is highly inequitable as racial and ethnic disparities in outpatient treatment of COVID-19 remain prevalent. An approach to COVID-19 that accepts widespread and repeated infection leaves the most vulnerable among us unprotected. As we have seen throughout the pandemic, it has also led to the emergence of new variants, putting our communities at additional risk. Each repeated infection increases an individual’s likelihood of developing Long COVID, a potentially lifelong disability with limited treatment options. 

The CDC has continually failed to take into account disabled people when making COVID-19 policies and regulations. The CDC is moving in the wrong direction by reducing COVID-19 isolation periods. Instead, it should release improved guidelines to promote masking and increase availability, accessibility, and understanding of vaccines, testing, and treatment. States and the federal government also must address the continued effects of the pandemic and the end of the public health emergency on health care access and home and community based services, make investments in improving indoor air quality and preventing and treating Long COVID, and address the economic and human impacts of this crisis. ASAN condemns the possible shortening of isolation guidelines and will continue to hold the federal government accountable for protecting the public from the ongoing risk of COVID-19.

[fortheloveofnutrition]

I like to re post this every now and again because it's good advice I frequently forget.

Also I post it in part because I'm laying in bed with Covid (for the first time) at the moment and eating as much fruit as I can to expedite recovery. I grabbed a banana and orange, ate the banana and asked myself if this was a good combo or not. Glad I checked, because it was not. The last thing I need is indigestion.

But because it's me, my main focus has been doubling down on nutrition and observing my own results. I was eating plant based before, but sometimes I went a little too hard on the peanut butter trail mix, breads, or other sweet treats.

My doctor said rest and hydrate, but I took it a step further and since testing positive have cut out wheat, sugar, and any kind of dairy or processed foods. I figure nothing that could make inflammation worse. I've been consuming tons of herbs like cinnamon, ginger, echinacea, and turmeric while eating fresh citrus fruits like lemon, orange, strawberry, and pineapple daily.

Now I did a bit of tooling about the internet to see if any studies had been done over the last four years regarding a plant based diet and it's effects on Covid. The results were hopeful.

I found one study that said,

"Merino et al revealed that healthy plant-based foods could decrease the risk and severity of COVID-19.21 In this large survey, it was shown that as the quality of the diet rises, the risk of disease COVID-19 (HR 0.91) and severe COVID-19 (HR 0.59) diminishes.

Which gave me hope so I kept digging.

Another one stated, "Compared with an omnivorous Western diet, plant-based diets containing mostly fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, with restricted amounts of foods of animal origin, are associated with reduced risk and severity of COVID-19. "

And I can tell you that has been my experience thus far. I developed a fever that went away after 24 hours and didn't go over 100.4. My only other symptom has been a stuffy nose with sinus pressure. Im definitely tired and need to limit activity but I can still taste and smell, breathe through my nose a decent amount of the time, and I'm not coughing. I'm lucky in that I have time off from work and for that I am grateful, as rest is another key component.

And why would a plant based diet be so beneficial for mitigating Covid symptoms? Because, "plant-based dietary patterns are rich in antioxidants, phytosterols and polyphenols which positively affect several cell types implicated in immune function and exhibit direct antiviral properties."

The full study can be found if you pop this into Google::

Acosta-Navarro JC, Dias, LF, de Gouveia LAG et al. Vegetarian and plant based diets associated with lower incidence of COVID-19. BMJ Nutr Prev Health 2024:e000629. doi:10.1136/bmjnph-2023-000629

I was really scared at first and this information helped me feel more empowered in my health and recovery. It's not a substitute for any medical attention or prevention like vaccines, hand washing, and mask wearing- all things I was doing regularly prior to getting sick which may have also been variables in keeping my symptoms down. A little help goes a long way.

Has any other plant based person had a similar experience? Let me know.

[justinssportscorner]

Reed McMaster at MMFA:

So far in 2024, New York Jets Quarterback Aaron Rodgers has appeared on multiple right-wing podcasts where he has promoted conspiracy theories. What began publicly as a hesitancy to get vaccinated for COVID-19 appears to have devolved, with the athlete now spewing absurd conspiracy theories and bigoted misinformation on right-wing platforms.

Rodgers has been a repeat guest on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show for years. Rodgers has had a long-running deal with The Pat McAfee Show, making regular weekly appearances during the NFL season as part of “Aaron Rodgers Tuesdays.” According to The Pat McAfee Show’s YouTube channel, Rodgers has made at least 68 appearances since September 18, 2019. [YouTube, accessed on 5/20/24; Forbes, 10/12/23] 

In 2021, Rodgers revealed on The Pat McAfee Show that he was unvaccinated for COVID-19 after claiming earlier in that year that he was “immunized.” Rodgers defended his decision not to get vaccinated and claimed he was not being dishonest by insisting he was “immunized” earlier that year. He also complained that a “woke mob” was trying to “cancel” him because he’s unvaccinated against COVID-19. [NBC, 11/5/21]

New York Jets QB and Pat McAfee Show regular Aaron Rodgers has become infamously known for spewing bonkers conspiracy theories in recent years.

[justforbooks]

It did not seem like a good thing when a precious consignment of human tumour samples on its way from Kampala, Uganda, to Heathrow was diverted to Manchester. When the samples finally arrived at the Middlesex hospital in London, they were swimming in murky fluid in their vials as though they had been infected with bacteria.

But when the pathologist Anthony Epstein looked at the fluid under the microscope he saw no bacteria, just individual cells that had been shaken loose from the tumours. And that was just what he needed in order to search for elusive virus particles and test his hunch that they were causing cancer.

In the early 1960s Epstein, who has died aged 102, had heard a lecture by Denis Burkitt, an Irish surgeon working in Kampala, that described strange tumours (now known as Burkitt lymphoma) growing around the jaws of children in equatorial Africa.

Intriguingly, the geographical distribution of the condition seemed to depend on temperature and rainfall, suggesting a biological cause. Epstein, who had been working with viruses that cause cancer in chickens, immediately suspected a virus might be involved, perhaps in association with another tropical disease such as malaria.

Epstein began to collaborate with Burkitt, who supplied him with tumours from children he had treated. But Epstein’s efforts to grow pieces of tumour in the laboratory and isolate a virus had all been unsuccessful until the dissociated cells arrived.

With his graduate student Yvonne Barr, he then decided to look at cultures of these cells in an electron microscope, a powerful instrument that had only recently become available in his lab.

The very first image showed a tell-tale outline that looked like one of the family of herpes viruses. It turned out to be a previously undescribed member of that family, and was given the name Epstein-Barr virus. In 1964, Epstein, Barr and Epstein’s research assistant, Bert Achong, published the first evidence that cancer in humans could be caused by a virus – to be greeted by widespread scepticism even though they went on to demonstrate that EB virus caused tumours in monkeys.

Thanks to samples supplied by Epstein, in 1970 Werner and Gertrude Henle at the Children’s hospital in Philadelphia discovered that EB virus also caused glandular fever. That made it possible to design a test for antibodies to the virus in order to confirm a diagnosis. EB virus turned out to be very common, infecting most children in early life, though it usually causes glandular fever only in older teenagers and young adults. As well as causing Burkitt lymphoma in endemic areas in Africa and Papua New Guinea, it is also associated with a cancer of the nose and throat that is the most common cancer of men in south China, as well as cancers in people whose immune systems have been compromised, such as those infected with HIV.

More recent research suggests that EB virus might also be involved in some cases of multiple sclerosis, and that people who have previously had glandular fever are more susceptible to severe Covid-19.

After the discovery, Epstein and others devoted time and effort to trying to find out under what circumstances EB virus causes cancer. The relationship between the virus, other diseases, human genetics and cancer is complex, and it took decades before the medical community could accept the EB virus as a cause with confidence.

Not until 1997 did the International Agency for Research on Cancer class it as a Group 1 carcinogen, formally acknowledging its role in a variety of cancers.

The discovery of EB virus opened up a whole new field of research into cancer-causing viruses. It also raised the exciting possibility of preventing cancers through vaccination, an advance that has now been achieved in the case of human papilloma virus, which causes cervical cancer, and hepatitis B virus, which causes liver cancer.

By the time of his retirement in 1985, Epstein’s research group at the University of Bristol had developed a candidate vaccine that protected monkeys infected with EB virus against tumours, but neither it nor any other candidate has yet been successfully developed for human use.

Epstein was born in London, one of three children of Olga (nee Oppenheimer) and Mortimer Epstein. Mortimer was a writer and translator who edited The Statesman’s Yearbook for Macmillan from 1924 until his death in 1946. Olga was involved with charitable work in the Jewish community. Anthony attended St Paul’s school in west London, where the biology teacher Sidney Pask encouraged boys to go far beyond the syllabus and whose pupils also included Robert Winston and Jonathan Miller.

Epstein won a place to study medicine at Trinity College, Cambridge. He moved to Middlesex hospital medical school in wartime London to complete his training, before doing his national service in India with the Royal Army Medical Corps. He returned to work at the Middlesex hospital as assistant pathologist, conducting his own research. Thinking electron microscopy might be useful in his studies of cancer-causing viruses in chickens, he spent some time learning the new technique at the Rockefeller Institute in New York (now Rockefeller University). Not long afterwards he attended Burkitt’s lecture and began the serendipitous route to his discovery.

In 1968 he was appointed professor and head of the department of pathology at the University of Bristol, where he remained until his retirement. He moved to Oxford as a fellow of Wolfson College in 1986, becoming an honorary fellow in 2001.

An exemplary scientific good citizen, he served as foreign secretary and vice-president of the Royal Society, and sat on boards and councils for numerous national and international research organisations, including as a special representative of the director general of Unesco; he was also a patron of Humanists UK. Among his many prizes and honorary degrees, he received the international Gairdner award for biomedical research in 1988. He was appointed CBE in 1985 and knighted in 1991.

“It was a series of accidents, really,” he said of his discovery in a conversation with Burkitt they recorded for Oxford Brookes University’s oral history archive in 1991. “Lucky quirks.” Burkitt immediately responded with Louis Pasteur’s aphorism: “Chance favours the prepared mind.”

Epstein was a deeply cultured man who retained a lively interest in many subjects – particularly oriental rugs, Tibet and amphibians – until the end of his life.

He is survived by his partner, Kate Ward, by his children Susan, Simon and Michael, from his marriage to Lisbeth Knight, from whom he was separated in 1965, and who died in 2015, and by two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

🔔Michael Anthony Epstein, pathologist, born 18 May 1921; died 6 February 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[toshootforthestars]

From the report by Beth Mole, posted 29 Feb 2024:

In a lengthy background document, the agency laid out its rationale for consolidating COVID-19 guidance into general guidance for respiratory viruses—including influenza, RSV, adenoviruses, rhinoviruses, enteroviruses, and others, though specifically not measles. The agency also noted the guidance does not apply to health care settings and outbreak scenarios. "COVID-19 remains an important public health threat, but it is no longer the emergency that it once was, and its health impacts increasingly resemble those of other respiratory viral illnesses, including influenza and RSV," the agency wrote. The most notable change in the new guidance is the previously reported decision to no longer recommend a minimum five-day isolation period for those infected with the pandemic coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Instead, the new isolation guidance is based on symptoms, which matches long-standing isolation guidance for other respiratory viruses, including influenza. "The updated Respiratory Virus Guidance recommends people with respiratory virus symptoms that are not better explained by another cause stay home and away from others until at least 24 hours after both resolution of fever AND overall symptom are getting better," the document states. "This recommendation addresses the period of greatest infectiousness and highest viral load for most people, which is typically in the first few days of illness and when symptoms, including fever, are worst." The CDC acknowledged that the eased isolation guidance will create "residual risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission," and that most people are no longer infectious only after 8 to 10 days. As such, the agency urged people to follow additional interventions—including masking, testing, distancing, hygiene, and improving air quality—for five additional days after their isolation period. "Today’s announcement reflects the progress we have made in protecting against severe illness from COVID-19," CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in a statement. "However, we still must use the commonsense solutions we know work to protect ourselves and others from serious illness from respiratory viruses—this includes vaccination, treatment, and staying home when we get sick." Overall, the agency argued that a shorter isolation period would be inconsequential. Other countries and states that have similarly abandoned fixed isolation times did not see jumps in COVID-19 emergency department visits or hospitalizations, the CDC pointed out. And most people who have COVID-19 don't know they have it anyway, making COVID-19-specific guidance moot, the agency argued. In a recent CDC survey, less than half of people said they would test for SARS-CoV-2 if they had a cough or cold symptoms, and less than 10 percent said they would go to a pharmacy or health care provider to get tested. Meanwhile, "The overall sensitivity of COVID-19 antigen tests is relatively low and even lower in individuals with only mild symptoms," the agency said. The CDC also raised practical concerns for isolation, including a lack of paid sick leave for many, social isolation, and "societal costs." The points are likely to land poorly with critics. “The CDC is again prioritizing short-term business interests over our health by caving to employer pressure on COVID guidelines. This is a pattern we’ve seen throughout the pandemic,” Lara Jirmanus, Clinical Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, said in a press release last month after the news first broke of the CDC's planned isolation update. Jirmanus is a member of the People's CDC, a group that advocates for more aggressive COVID-19 policies, which put out the press release. Another member of the group, Sam Friedman, a professor of population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, also blasted the CDC's stance last month. The guidance will "make workplaces and public spaces even more unsafe for everyone, particularly for people who are high-risk for COVID complications," he said.

But, the CDC argues that the threat of COVID-19 is fading. Hospitalizations, deaths, prevalence of long COVID, and COVID-19 complications in children (MIS-C) are all down. COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective at preventing severe disease, death, and to some extent, long COVID—we just need more people to get them. Over 95% of adults hospitalized with COVID-19 in the 2023–2024 respiratory season had no record of receiving the seasonal booster dose, the agency noted. Only 22% of adults got the latest shot, including only 42% of people ages 65 and older. In contrast, 48% of adults got the latest flu shot, including 73% of people ages 65 and older. But even with the crummy vaccination rates for COVID-19, a mix of past infection and shots have led to a substantial protection in the overall population. The CDC even went as far as arguing that COVID-19 deaths have fallen to a level that is similar to what's seen with flu. "Reported deaths involving COVID-19 are several-fold greater than those reported to involve influenza and RSV. However, influenza and likely RSV are often underreported as causes of death," the CDC said. In the 2022–2023 respiratory virus season, there were nearly 90,000 reported COVID-19 deaths. For flu, there were 9,559 reported deaths, but the CDC estimates the true number to be between 18,000 and 97,000. In the current season, there have been 32,949 reported COVID-19 deaths to date and 5,854 reported flu deaths, but the agency estimates the real flu deaths are between 17,000 and 50,000. "Total COVID-19 deaths, accounting for underreporting, are likely to be higher than, but of the same order of magnitude as, total influenza deaths," the agency concluded.

(say no to raw dough: CDC)

[gossip-with-yourbestie]

WHO Declares Mpox a Global Health Emergency

In response to the alarming rise in mpox cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its spread to neighboring countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global health emergency. This is the highest alert level under international health regulations.

On Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the decision after a special meeting of experts. “The emergency committee has advised that the current situation constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and I have accepted this advice,” Tedros stated at a press conference.

The PHEIC designation is a serious move, signaling the need for a coordinated global response to tackle the outbreak and prevent further loss of life. Tedros expressed concern over the emergence of a new mpox strain in eastern DRC and its detection in neighboring countries like Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.

The situation is dire. This year alone, over 14,000 cases and 524 deaths have been reported in the DRC, surpassing last year’s totals. The new pox strain, clade 1b, which seems to spread primarily through sexual contact, is particularly troubling.

Dimie Ogoina, who led the emergency committee, described the upsurge as “an extraordinary event,” warning that without stronger surveillance, the full scale of the crisis remains unclear. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s head of emerging diseases, stressed that halting pox transmission is possible with concerted effort but emphasized the need for a better understanding of the disease’s spread.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, was first identified in the DRC in 1970. It is a viral infection that spreads from animals to humans and can also be transmitted between people through close contact. Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, and distinctive skin sores.

This is the second PHEIC declaration for pox, following the global outbreak in 2022 linked to the clade 2b strain, which primarily affected men who have sex with men. That outbreak, which lasted from July 2022 to May 2023, saw nearly 140 deaths from around 90,000 cases. The current clade 1b strain is more severe, with a higher fatality rate.

PHEICs have only been declared a few times since 2009, for issues like H1N1, polio, Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19. Marion Koopmans from Erasmus University highlighted that while a PHEIC raises international alarm, the core needs—improving diagnostic capabilities, public health responses, treatment support, and vaccination—remain the same. The DRC and its neighbors face significant resource challenges in addressing this outbreak.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is ramping up preparedness efforts across Africa, particularly in the hard-hit eastern DRC, to help contain the disease in the most affected areas.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Alarm bells ring in Japan as experts warn of fast-spreading new Covid variant KP. 3 - Published July 19, 2024

Paywalled at the South China Morning Post: Unpaywalled by Covidsafehotties.

The country reported a 39 per cent week-on-week surge in infections from July 1 to 7, with Okinawa the hardest hit

Japan is grappling with a new and highly contagious coronavirus variant that is fuelling the country’s 11th wave of Covid-19 infections, health experts warn. The KP. 3 variant is spreading rapidly, even among those who are vaccinated or have recovered from previous infections, according to Kazuhiro Tateda, president of the Japan Association of Infectious Diseases.

“It is, unfortunately, the nature of the virus to become more resilient and resistant each time it changes into a different form,” Tateda told This Week in Asia. “People lose their immunity quite quickly after being vaccinated, so they have little or no resistance.”

Tateda, who sits on Japan’s advisory panel formed at the start of the pandemic, said the coming weeks will be critical as authorities monitor the variant’s spread and impact.

While hospitals have reported a sharp uptick in Covid-19 admissions, Tateda said he is “relieved that not many of these cases are severe”. Typical symptoms of the KP. 3 variant include high fever, sore throat, loss of smell and taste, headaches, and fatigue.

According to the health ministry, medical facilities across Japan logged a 1.39-fold – or 39 per cent – increase in infections from July 1 to 7, compared to the previous week.

Okinawa prefecture has been the hardest hit by the new strain of the virus, with hospitals reporting an average of nearly 30 infections per days. The KP. 3 variant has accounted for more than 90 per cent of Covid-19 cases nationwide, the Fuji News Network reported, leading to renewed concerns about bed shortages at medical facilities.

Since Japan’s first detected Covid-19 case in early 2020 involving a man who returned from the Chinese city of Wuhan, East Asian nation has recorded a total of 34 million infections and around 75,000 related deaths. The country’s Covid-19 caseload peaked on August 5, 2022, when more than 253,000 people were receiving treatment.

Japan’s uptick in cases coincides with similar increases being observed globally. In the US, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported a 23.5 per cent week-over-week rise in the number of people visiting hospitals with Covid-19 symptoms during the week ending July 6.

High-profile US.figures such as President Joe Biden and Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice-President Kamala Harris, have recently tested positive and gone into isolation. Meanwhile, several riders in the ongoing Tour de France cycling race have also returned positive test results.

Experts say it is too early to determine the full impact of the new variant on Japanese businesses or cross-border activities like travel. Precautionary measures are already in place at the country’s air and seaports to monitor the health of incoming arrivals. However, the global spike in cases may deter some Japanese from venturing abroad this summer.

A recent survey by Nippon Life insurance found that just 3.2 per cent of Japanese plan to travel abroad in the coming months, which is likely to depress annual travel figures once again. In 2023, Japan saw 9.62 million outbound travellers, a recovery after three years of extremely low pandemic-era numbers, but still far below the 20.01 million outbound travellers recorded in 2019.

Despite the latest surge, infectious disease expert Tateda insists there is no need for panic in Japan. However, he emphasised the importance of following precautions implemented during the pandemic’s peak, such as mask-wearing in public, handwashing, and social distancing.

Tateda also stressed that anyone testing positive should immediately isolate themselves.

[eatpeesweetpea]

REVIEW: My 2nd case of COVID-19

TW: mild self destructive behavior, mentions of ED, the state of California

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"[COVID-19] is the Vipassana retreat of viruses..."

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Following north of two years after its debut, my immune system has encountered its sophomore case of COVID-19. Because I am up to date on my vaccines and boosters as of the time of writing, this is an impressive context for COVID-19's return.

It began as a slight and deceptive, "something's stuck in my throat" sort of feeling at the end of a five day road trip through the California. (Let this serve as foreshadowing to how I will review the state of California.) I had choked on a ramen noodle earlier in the day, so I thought nothing of it. The accompanying "off" body feeling that gradually intensified into the evening made the final leg of the drive somewhat uncomfortable. But overall, an underwhelming opener.

COVID-19 really picked up the following morning. Since my girlfriend is a furnace, she can attest that I sleep slight: one blanket, one pillow, soldier, grumpy. No cuddles. I woke up roughly two hours earlier than usual attempting to sell my music in order to exit the freeway on a motorcycle. In my delirium, I whined and snuggled up. I was shivering under two blankets in a sweater, and clammy. My yucky throat feeling had evolved into an icky dry cough that sometimes produced a satisfying wad of phlegm. I was too lazy to get up and get socks to thaw my icy toes.

Post 600 mg ibuprofen, I had reclaimed some vitality and managed to drag my sorry ass home. I dilly dallied unproductively around my room for most of the day, feeling somewhat paranoid about brain fog, long COVID, some weird swelling above my hips, etc. Come nighttime and my fever had crept back up to a surprising 102.9° F. I slumped at the dining room table and spooned hot chicken soup into my hanging mouth. There is something very fascinating and rewarding about these sorry, altered states of consciousness, and I pondered that for a few minutes before redosing. I went to bed shortly after and passed out.

I mostly slept through the night, only beginning to stir prematurely towards morning. I half-awoke very unpleasantly drenched in sweat and flipped the blankets around a couple times to evenly distribute the spoilage. Once I fully woke up, I recorded my temp at a cool 97.2° F. In fact, the rest of the day went swimmingly. I completed some chores, did some painting, and cooked for myself with minimal medication and nursing only a somewhat irritating cough. My throat was more itchy than sore. As for the body feel, I think I could have successfully ran a quarter-marathon given a sufficiently motivated bear or pack of wolves.

Overall, I have mixed feelings on COVID-19. Within the context of its contemporaries, COVID-19 did no more harm than a moderate flu, and I much prefer its dry, manageable cough to the agony of strep throat. The body load and fatigue of COVID-19 was notably brutal on its first day, but backed off much more quickly than any other condition of its caliber. The true scale-tippers here are the social effects of COVID-19; this is the only sickness where you are expected to inform all of your previous company of the potential that you got them sick. Not fun. This is also the only common illness where you can't get away with re-entering society right about when you feel better. The strict code of courtesy around COVID-19 is good and ethical, but knocks it down a couple points by the standards of my review.

That's not to say there are only negatives. On the other side of the coin, I have appreciated the impetus to refocus on art and personal reflection. I've made my maiden voyage through more albums in the last two days than the last two months. I made my first Tumblr post. As someone who is typically noncommittal about disordered eating, I considered the mild reduction in appetite a plus. And further on the topic of self-destructive glee, anybody who claims they don't want to see just how high they can get their temperature before they get scared is full of shit. Number go up funny dopamine -- so I appreciated the astounding effort on fever here.

If you are looking for a new sickness to contract and have a light ten days ahead, keep COVID-19 on your radar. It is the Vipassana retreat of viruses: painful, isolating, meditative, and occasionally gross. Tolerable. Just don't feel tempted to share the love.

6/10

[darkmaga-returns]

As of October 15, 2024, CDC has released more than half of the anticipated 7.8 million entries of V-safe free-text entries. ICAN’s analysis of the entries released so far reveals almost 12,000 reports of kidney pain, kidney stones, or kidney infections.

As many of you already know, V-safe was developed by CDC for individuals to report symptoms after COVID-19 vaccination. This month, we decided to look at V-safe reports of kidney issues.

We know from other vaccines that vaccination can negatively affect kidney function, causing harm far from the injection site. Sadly, it doesn’t occur to most people that an injection in their arm can harm a distant system of their body. But as ICAN has reported again and again, all body systems can be impacted by vaccination.

A 2024 study found a “strong causal relationship” between COVID-19 vaccination and kidney diseases such as acute interstitial nephritis (inflammation of kidneys) and podocytopathy (injury to special cells in the kidney). A 2022 study found a correlation between acute kidney injury (AKI) and COVID-19 vaccination and that “AKI following the COVID-19 vaccines led to poor prognosis, with 19.78% death in the Pfizer-BNT group, 17.78% in MODERNA, and 12.36% in JANSSEN.”

The V-safe app entries—most made in just the first few days and weeks following vaccination—reveal many reports of kidney pain, the abrupt development of kidney stones, and hospitalization for kidney infections. Here are a few examples:

“Infection of Kidneys and UTI. Blood in urine and kidney stone on left kidney.”

“I’m in the hospital right now Because I’m still peeing blood they think it’s kidney stones.”

“Kidney stone requiring emergency surgery, ureteral stent placement and subsequent removal; UTI.”

“Intermittent stabbing, pulsing pain around left kidney.”

“Severe flank pain (I think it’s a kidney stone) I’m in the ER”

“Diagnosis with new onset kidney stone”

“Severe kidney infection back pain fever”

Readers will not be surprised to learn CDC doesn’t recognize kidney issues as adverse events related to COVID-19 vaccination, despite CDC’s access to this same V-safe data in real time as the vaccines were rolled out. ICAN will continue to do CDC’s job for it and bring attention to these dangerous and sometimes life-threatening conditions.

[discluded]

In light of that now deleted poll on which paring should seperate with Mile and Apo in the leading this clip is even more adorable now:

https://twitter.com/greywarenr0nan/status/1710593155140358201?t=UnBIgkrRYzYxge8P4F9D6g&s=19

Apo considering whatever works Mile and Apo do together to be automatically romantic. This along with Mile liking comments about Mile and Apo as a couple series again.

They adore working together as a couple. It's lovely to see professionally a pair of talented actors have fun and are continually excited to continue working together.

y'all, they're not even being subtle... I mean how much less subtle can you get than WE LIKE WORKING TOGETHER WE CAN CHOOSE TO WORK ALONE BUT WE DON'T. Again, people who apparently like their faces and choose not to listen to their words and want to treat them like dolls.

In a VERY RARE moment of me being salty on main because the covid vaccine-induced fever melted both my brain and common sense out of my ears, SO I CAN SHOW YOU MY MAGNUM OPUS

a response to the now-deleted poll:

I've peaked. No matter what I create after this...fanfiction... meta... art... this is the pinnacle of what I will ever make in my life.

Though okay seriously, is someone handcuffing these people to this fandom? If you're unhappy just leave. It's much easier to change your own behavior, and saner if we're being honest, than demand everyone around you change their behavior to suit you.

(yeah I'm not gonna let y'all rebagel this one. sorry, i'm being wry, but I'm still not gonna try to start shit.)