For Omicron, vaccine effectiveness really wears off. I don’t consider that vaccines still provide great protection after 5 months post 3rd shot.
"During the Omicron-predominant period, VE against COVID-19–associated ED/UC encounters was lower overall compared with that during the Delta-predominant period and waned after the second dose, from 69% within 2 months of vaccination to 37% at ≥5 months after vaccination (p<0.001). Protection increased after a third dose, with VE of 87% among those vaccinated within the past 2 months; however, VE after 3 doses declined to 66% among those vaccinated 4–5 months earlier and 31% among those vaccinated ≥5 months earlier, although the latter estimate is imprecise because few data were available on persons vaccinated for ≥5 months after a third dose. "
Just wanted to share my daughter’s latest mask report: all students in her high school here in NC continue to mask. 100%, she says. This is completely different from what is happening in the community and, from what I hear, very different from what is happening in other high schools in our district.
If you are all-in on mRNA vaccines (like most in the US apparently are), as long as the available mRNA vaccines are targeted against the ancestral virus, you should expect a booster to give only short term protection against emerging variants (when the short term high volume of antibodies compensate for the mismatch in the short term).
Or you may want to get a J&J booster, since the (T-cell heavy) immune response it induces apparently has higher durability over time and against variants, even though it is not as strong at its peak.
I haven’t worn a mask in well over a year, and I have no plans to. 90% of the population here don’t wear them either. If a mask is your thing, more power to you. Everyone is happy and we get along. We don’t have any vaccines in development for any of these new strains because they’re mutating too fast. That’s what they do. I’m going to choose to move past this.
I’m seeing a big dichotomy between what the news is telling me versus what I’m seeing around me. So I cancelled my subscription to cable news. Breathing fresh air and turning off the news is good for the soul.
I hope you only mean in general where things are mask optional vs places (airlines, health care places) or with people who specifically request that you wear one - perhaps due to Covid, but also perhaps due to any other immunocompromised situation. If not with the latter, you should probably change your screen name.
If only in mask optional (or no direction) situations, then I think that’s what most folks in many places are doing now.
Personally, I’ll still go with what the majority are doing somewhere, unless asked - then I’ll wear one (or not if asked not to).
I was also there and agree. Far more Cast Members wear masks than guests. My D who was with us all week as a guest only wore a mask when on transportation, but when she went to work the day we left, she wore her mask. She said as a guest you choose to be close to people, as a CM you have no choice. It certainly doesn’t hurt to wear it.
I was just in La Jolla doing early Passover shopping at Ralph’s (plus WF and TJ) and masks were rare. I’m still wearing one inside stores, especially that Ralph’s. It’s so big you can’t really get in and out in 15 minutes!
Cast members do not wear masks anymore. Only place masks are required are on the monorail.
There were cast members wearing them but obvious that it was their choice and not required.
Sorry, poorly written post. Yes CMs do not have to wear masks, but many do because they have no choice how close guests get to them. I was actually surprised at how many still wear them, inside and out. One restaurant, every server had them on.
Children accounted for about 19% of all COVID-19 cases, but less than 0.26% of cases resulted in death, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which summarizes state-based data.’
@Marilyn - you were in my neighborhood and I can tell you that since H and I returned from our long road trip on 3/6 mask wearing in our area has gone down significantly. Those that are wearing masks in the grocery stores are now the minority. For better or for worse it is what it is now.
‘Importantly, this study found that immunogenicity maxes out at 3 doses. In other words, there was no meaningful increase in the quality of the immune system after a fourth dose among the young population. They also assessed the efficacy of the fourth dose compared to the third dose, and the added benefit was not statistically significant. In other words, the efficacy of a fourth dose was no different from the efficacy of a third dose.’
and it seems that the bald headed step child of vaccines J&J is proving to be quite the winner ’ P.S. I know J&J people are feeling left behind. Data continues to show that a J&J + 1 booster is working as well as the mRNA three dose series. We don’t know why, but there are many hypotheses. For example, the adenovirus biotechnology may lead to greater durability and “affinity maturation”—more sophisticated antibodies over time. Or, this may be a biproduct of mixing vaccine biotechnologies. In short, you do not need a third dose right now. We’re all keeping an eye on the literature.’
In other words, after the immune response from dose 3 of mRNA vaccines declines after some months, dose 4 brings it back up to where dose 3 brought it up to, but not more, and the effect is likely to be temporary. I.e. more doses of mRNA boosters against the ancestral virus are unlikely to be a long term solution against symptomatic infection. Such a booster may only be helpful if you time it just right (as in just before a surge in infections and exposure).
“I remember when an immunocompromised woman dying of measles in 2015 was a big deal. I remember when a baby dying of whooping cough in 2019 was a big deal. I remember that it was a big deal in 2019 when Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky exposed his children to chickenpox rather than vaccinate them. I remember in 2014 when the Disneyland measles outbreak was a big deal. I remember in 2019 when 1,261 cases of measles were considered a “public health crisis.”
But isn’t the unvaxed death rate from measles significantly higher than from Covid for that young age group? In addition, the more conventional childhood disease vaccines have been around for a few decades longer (at minimum) so have been able to establish a clearer understanding as to their safety as well as efficacy.
. With a mask.