Perhaps also, families shared similarities in
- Same high risk exposure (e.g. same crowded indoor restaurant).
- Similar genetics (perhaps similarities in how well their immune systems work).
Maybe they all have same ideas about what is āsafeā and how often they are in crowds, dining in at restaurants, traveling, working with lots of time facing public?
Yes, in all these anecdotes they all were somewhere together where they caught it (wedding, vacation, etc.)
Iād been considering eating inside at my favorite Vermont restaurant which doesnāt seem to have any outside options, but the more I read about things like this the more I think, maybe my second favorite restaurant will do this year!
2 Likes
Iām sticking with outdoor dining or takeout until our positivity rates in our state are back down to 1% or lower.
HI is currently >4 positivity (community spread)! Our new cases are >200, when we were at double digits in June! Iām fine with the few places that offer outdoor dining. If there are no seats, we are fine with takeout.
3 Likes
I think itās the same reason we say you donāt need to worry about the flu after youāve been vaccinated. I know several people who got a doozy of a flu after vaccination. Sick for a week and coughing for weeks after. But thatās just part of life. We ā donāt worryā about it. We donāt alter our behavior to avoid it unless we are dealing with someone very frail or immuno compromised. Unless vaccinated people are hospitalized orvsuffering long term effects thereās not anything a public health authorities care about much. Right now they arenāt seeing any data that thereās long term effects. Data to date indicates no. But they will monitor that. But They arenāt tying to prevent ALL illness. Thatās not a goal. If vaccinated people are getting it and giving it to vaccinated people who end up hospitalized thatās a concern but itās that hospitalized number that maters.
2 Likes
My guess is genetics coupled with the specific variant. Iād love to know if people in the family had antibodies and at what level. I know (of) one person who got vaxed, but their blood donation didnāt register antibodies. They were told all was fine and they were, indeed, vaccinated, but did it work for them?
At dinner tonight (outside), I heard of a man who recently went to P-town, and brought home he disease to his family. He went for some major celebration
This could be a game changerā¦not yet available to the general public and pricing has not been announced butā¦had a chance to play with one andā¦wowā¦
Cue is the First to Offer Molecular Diagnostic Testing to Consumers in the U.S. Without a Prescription
-
FDA grants Emergency Use Authorization for the Cue COVID-19 Test for Home and Over The Counter (OTC) Use for symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, ages 2 and older
-
Prospective studies comparing the Cue OTC Test to a highly sensitive FDA-EUA authorized PCR laboratory-based test found 97.4% agreement for positive cases and 99.1% agreement for negative cases
-
Cue provides a fast, automated process from sample collection to results in about 20 minutes using a lower nasal swabā¦
6 Likes
Will be interesting to see what their price is. Ellume, a rapid antigen test, is available OTC is around $30-$40 and doesnāt require a physician RX. If this new tests costs more than that it wonāt get much use, IMO.
What we really need is lick-a-strip instant tests, for a low price <=$1. Pretty sure that tech exists, at least thatās what Michael Mina from Harvard says.
1 Like
I believe the difference between the Ellume and the CUE tests is the process. CUE is a molecular diagnostic test like those used at labs. According to the FDA and CUE - it is the first of itās kind for home use.
Pricing will matter. But if the efficacy and accuracy of CUE is proven to be on par with current lab tests I could see where those results are accepted more readily. Frankly. One could take the unit and do an on the spot test - with results in 20 minutes. Thus no more 72 hour time frame before travel.
2 Likes
There are other companies that work on on-demand, instrument-free molecular tests: Talis, Visby, and some others. To be competitive against lab-run tests, these need to be priced right, have a way to prove that the person taking the test is not faking it (for those occasions where one needs an official result), and also be accurate.
Speaking of instruments, more and more labs are getting equipped with machines running fast molecular tests using PCR (Cepheid) or LAMP (isothermal amplification- Alere). There is a lab at Seatac that runs both of these testsā¦ they are pricy though. Carbon Health, which we used to test to go to Hawaii, provided Alere test results in about an hour after the sample collection. Of course, we had to travel to the sample collection site and back home, so that added another hour.
3 Likes
Ellume is an antigen test that gives results in 20 minutes as well, so that is generally accepted for travel and such too. It will come down to pricing and consumer acceptance.
Looks like there will be number of options hitting the home consumer market. And price competition is great!
3 Likes
Iām hoping that Covid pumped enough VC $$ in the diagnostics development market that was almost decimated by the Theranos fiasco and the recent appellate court decisions.
1 Like
Other than some benefit is conferred, there seem to be a lack of consensus regarding the efficacy of vaccines against the delta variant. Moderna appears to be leading the pack in general.
A Moderna dose contains much higher amount of vaccine than a Pfizer dose (100Ī¼g vs 30Ī¼g), and produces slightly more antibodies according to studies.
3 Likes
References study here:
From figure 1 about effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19:
| Variant PANGO | Variant letter | Doses | Pfizer - BioNTech | Moderna | Oxford - AstraZeneca |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B.1.1.7 | Alpha | 1 | 66 | 83 | 64 |
| B.1.351 and P.1 | Beta and Gamma | 1 | 60 | 77 | 48 |
| B.1.617.2 | Delta | 1 | 56 | 72 | 67 |
| Non-VOC | Non-VOC | 1 | 61 | 54 | 67 |
| B.1.1.7 | Alpha | 2 | 89 | 92 | 79 |
| B.1.351 and P.1 | Beta and Gamma | 2 | 84 | ||
| B.1.617.2 | Delta | 2 | 87 | ||
| Non-VOC | Non-VOC | 2 | 93 | 89 |
1 Like
This is interesting. My D24 caught Covid at the end of March of this year, and got her first shot 8 weeks later. Wonder if that will prove to be extra helpful? In general, Iāve been curious about how protection levels may differ for people who are exposed to both types of immunity events (infection + vaccine).
1 Like
Where it has been studied, spike protein antibody response to COVID-19 infection appears to be similar to the first of two doses of an mRNA vaccine, and one dose of an mRNA vaccine in those who previously had COVID-19 usually results in a very strong spike protein antibody response.
2 Likes