Also saw that Florida got tired of leading the pack with the most new daily cases and deaths almost every day. If you get tired of leading the losers, quit the race…
At least numbers are going down all over, but to me, it was nice seeing that happen. FL has been one of the last states still having over 1000 new cases on most days beating even more populous states like CA and TX.
tbf: Texas is also at a 1k daily average for the past 7 days (per CDC).
I’m not sure if this is the appropriate thread to post this, but…
My D24 had covid back in March of this year, and suffered from anosmia for many weeks afterwards. She seems to have regained her sense of smell and taste in the past month, but has now developed a (possibly related?) troubling new issue…Phantosmia (yes, I just learned that term). Basically almost everything smells and tastes like either garbage or body odor to her. As you can imagine, eating is difficult. I’m going to schedule her with an ENT for a consult, but my preliminary web-surfing isn’t too encouraging about the prospects of it resolving.
Has anyone heard anything about this in relation to Covid? I suppose it could be a coincidence…
No I don’t think it’s a coincidence.
Has she been vaccinated? Some people with mid to long term covid side effects are experiencing some relief when they get vaccinated. Just another thing to ask the doctor about. Good luck.
Nice summary of where we are in terms of the vaccine, immunity timeframes and the possible need for boosters.
Yes, just got her second shot the other day. This symptom has been building for several weeks (started complaining about certain things not tasting good a few weeks ago) but since shot #2, just about everything smells and tastes terrible. 
Research study of Covid patients who developed phantosmia:
Sounds like about 40% of Covid patients who lose their sense of smell go on to develop distorted smells (parasomia) or phantom smells (phantosmia).
Quote from article above (potential positive side):
So sorry for your daughter—it sounds awful. Fingers crossed for resolution.
On a positive note, because so many have had problems with loss of sense of smell, there have been more studies into it and I am slowly retraining my nose and recovering my sense of smell I lost over 30 years ago.
I’ve been following the protocol laid out in abScent. My H lost his sense of smell Feb 2020 and is doing the training with me. It’s nice that we are recovering it. I wonder if some scent testing may help your D as well.
I had looked into this when she she had no sense of smell, but didn’t follow through and forgot about it once her sense started to return. Need to revisit - thanks! Also happy to hear you are improving. 30 years?!?!
Yes, it is wonderful to be able to smell somewhat again. It’s definitely not as reliable as it used to be, but it’s made cooking and eating more fun again and the kids and H and I are all glad of it!
It’s easier for H and I that we are both doing the sniffing than I’d just I’ve of us did it. We bought all the oils online and put them in old empty Atorvostatin bottles (tried baby food jars but the lids didn’t work that well). Periodically we will add a few more drops of scent to all the bottles, when we both agree the scent has faded.
It was bad when I couldn’t smell when I was burning things—now I can catch things before that happens. 
According to https://covid19dashboard.regeneron.com/?tab=Variant_Graphs&subTab=Top_Variants_Over_Time_(Select_Location) , the B.1.1.7 (or 20I/501Y.V1 or Alpha) variant that was the main variant in the US is declining, while the B.1.617.2 (or 20A/S:478K or Delta) variant is rapidly increasing.
CDC considers B.1.617.2 only a “variant of interest” (as opposed to a “variant of concern” like B.1.1.7) at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant-info.html . It is listed as having “Potential reduction in neutralization by post-vaccination sera.”
Study finds that likelihood of more severe COVID-19 is associated with diet. Plant-based diets were associated with lower risk, followed by pescatarian diets. But low carbohydrate diets were associated with higher risk.
P.1 variant of COVID-19 appears to be more dangerous to children than other variants of COVID-19: https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/comment/covid-19-infants-young-children-brazil/
P.1 is the third most common (behind B.1.1.7 and B.1.617.2) in the US as of 6/5, according to https://covid19dashboard.regeneron.com/?tab=Variant_Graphs&subTab=Top_Variants_Over_Time_(Select_Location)
Study of mix and match using a first dose of Oxford - AstraZeneca vaccine followed by a second dose of Pfizer - BioNTech vaccine.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-vaccine-booster-shot-variant-immunity (last section of page)
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.30.21257971v1.full.pdf
B.1.617.2 “Delta” variant may be 40% more transmissible than B.1.1.7 “Alpha” variant. In the UK, two doses of either Pfizer - BioNTech and Oxford - AstraZeneca vaccines were slightly less effective against B.1.617.2 than B.1.1.7, but effectiveness after just the first dose was significantly worse for both vaccines.
B.1.1.7 was recently the dominant variant in the US, but has been falling, while B.1.617.2 has been rising.
The Novavax vaccine has a successful clinical trial. This vaccine is a protein subunit vaccine that delivers spike proteins and an adjuvant. For comparison, mRNA (Pfizer - BioNTech and Moderna) and viral vector (J&J - Janssen) vaccines deliver instructions to cause the recipient’s cells make spike proteins.
The Novavax vaccine is intended to be given in two doses three weeks apart, and comparison of disease between the vaccine and placebo groups started one week after the second dose.
A little late now in the US (since COVID-19 vaccines are readily available), but may be helpful for those in places where COVID-19 vaccine are not readily available, or those who cannot get any of the COVID-19 vaccines for medical reasons:
“registered diphtheria or tetanus vaccinations” Is this different than the normal DPT vaccines kids get?
Diptheria and tetanus vaccines are part of the DTaP (child), Td (adult), and Tdap (adult) vaccines commonly used in the US.
However, the study was done in the UK, with the median age of people in the study was 71.6 years, so current child vaccination recommendations are not too relevant for them (in the UK, diptheria and tetanus are included in a 6-in-1 vaccine for child vaccinations). The study considers vaccination within the last ten years, which is the recommended interval for receiving boosters for diptheria and tetanus. So whether people in the study were keeping up with their recommended boosters seems to be the actual distinction between the vaccinated and control groups.