I just don’t see California mandating it until it is not EUA for all school ages. Just my opinion. I live in California and would not have a problem with them mandating the vaccines for kids in public schools once they are approved.
CDC booster eligibility is described at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/booster-shot.html and Stay Up to Date with COVID-19 Vaccines | CDC .
First booster:
- All adults who received PP, MM, or J primary vaccine.
- All age 5-17 who received PP primary vaccine (boosters not recommended for age 5-17 who received MM primary vaccine).
- No boosters recommended yet for those who received NN primary vaccine.
Second booster:
- All adults age 50+ who received PP, MM, or J primary vaccine.
- Adults who received JJ (primary and booster) vaccine.
- Some immunocompromised people (note, already recommended to have one extra dose in the primary series, i.e. PPP, MMM, JJ, so two boosters would be a total of 5 or 4 doses instead of 4 or 3 doses).
Some evidence suggests that having at least 3 doses is preferable. However, those under age 50 who got Jm or JP are still at 2 doses. Those who got NN are still at 2 doses, but likely got them very recently.
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“COVID-19 case fatality rates are substantially lower and are rapidly approaching that of the annual flu,” said Lemp, former Director of the California HIV/AIDS Research Program at the University of California, Office of the President.
…
That would conservatively put the death rates from the current omicron BA.5 variant around 0.19%, a more flu-like level, he said.”
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So according to the CDC calculator I am free and clear to head out into the general population today, without precaution or care. Yet my COVID test is still a solid positive.
Doesn’t seem very sciencecy to me.
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I thought CDC took the Q&I calculator down? Isolation and Precautions for People with COVID-19 | CDC
CDC guidelines are just that, guidelines. It’s reasonable that at the individual level people could have superior knowledge about their specific situation, as you do. It seems straightforward that one’s personal situation and associated factors should inform one’s decision making.
CDC guidelines have never been solely based on science. There is much about covid science we still don’t know, not to mention the ‘p’ word (politics 
)
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Hmmm…I do see that the calculator is down and under review. The 10 day until free and clear regardless of testing status was never made sense. Yes. the P thingy comes into play.
So much credibility lost. Hard to demand one follow the science (and be admonished for questioning any of the previous edicts).
Personally, I’ll stay isolated for a few more days.
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Maybe calculator is down because:
My kid went for check up (male, 16) and his doctor did not recommend the Covid booster. He’s had the primary series but no booster. She focused on a number of other boosters (DTP which he got, and Men A which he’ll get in a few months) that she wanted him to catch up on. From talking with friends, my impression is that pediatricians are trying to make sure all their patients are getting caught up on their “traditional” immunizations which might have been a little derailed due to the pandemic.
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I know that won’t be happening in our area. Our builder had all the typical symptoms after his wife had been sick for a week, then asked me if I thought he really needed to test (neither one had.) Both were surprised to get positive results. If they’d tested negative on the first one then they would not have checked again.
There’s great reluctance to test here both because many people still think Covid is no big deal and because they don’t want to curtail their activities. They surely won’t spend time to do three at-home tests but will gladly accept the first negative result even if they have symptoms.
Despite the resistance to testing, last week’s report shows cases up over 2021 in our county. Mask wearing is practically nonexistent. While our PCP still requires masks, I had to see a specialist last week and no one in the office wore a mask - staff or patients - except me.
I was exposed on a Saturday. Started with mild symptoms Monday but tested negative. Much stronger symptoms on Tuesday but still tested negative. Went in for a PCR on Wednesday and tested positive. Just because I was curious I also took a home test on Wednesday and this time it was positive. We were going out a town in a few weeks and wanted to ensure my husband was still negative so I isolated from him until I tested negative. It look a good 10 - 11 days after my positive (about 2 week after I was exposed).
H & I were also exposed Saturday. Neither of us have had any symptoms, and we both tested negative yesterday & today. It happened at the wedding of our friends’ son. Another friend at the wedding tested positive Sunday, and the friends whose son got married both tested positive within the last couple days. H & I were careful to socially distance at the reception, but we did have the woman who tested positive Sunday take a picture of us with H’s phone. We’re cautiously optimistic that we dodged a bullet, but that does remain to be seen.
I work in a medical office where mask are required. Signs up on the door, yet patients continue to walk in without a mask. I am so tired of arguing with patients the need for mask wearing; I do not care how many vaccines you have had, or how many test you have taken, or that your other doctors do not require mask-we do, plain and simple! A patient recently complained that I wasn’t pleasant when she arrived without and we were out at the time. I directed her to the pharmacy or gas station down the street when she could purchase one. She didn’t like that, and while I do not remember the encounter, it was last September, I suspect she wasn’t happy about needed a mask and having to wait for her appointment if those scheduled after her arrived on time.
Yes, I have to bite my tongue with patients that argue, and the new recommendations from the CDC will make my job even tougher!
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I finally got covid about 2 weeks ago. It was so mild that I have to wonder what all the fuss is about. I have friends who lock themselves up to avoid infection. I quarantined
for 5 days and wore a mask for the next 5 days. Minor inconvenience. No biggie. I wouldn’t seek out covid but I wouldn’t lock myself in to avoid it, either.
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My husband and I recently got covid. Mine was relatively minor but I was able to go on paxlovid.
My husband on the other hand while he wasn’t horribly sick, he was feeling pretty sick for 3 weeks and his O2 rate is still low more than a month later.
The problem is that you don’t know if you’ll be the person that it will be a minor issue or it will be a huge one. And my husband is still lucky, it could have been much worse.
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I started going to a new chiropractor. Their protocol is to go to the bathroom to wash hands first, then sanitize hands and mask at all time. One patient in the waiting room. I am good with that.
I did a volunteer work indoor today for 3 hours. I had my mask on the whole time. 3 out of 15 were wearing masks.
YLE writes about the latest CDC guidelines: A reaction to the CDC guidance - by Katelyn Jetelina
Apparently not impressed, summarized by the quote “What has been eating at me the most, all week, is around national health policy itself. How much should the CDC meet people where they are vs. how much should the CDC set the standard?”
Also is critical of the CDC’s 5 and 10 day guidelines, rather than using antigen testing to determine contagiousness risk, with an image from Mina:
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Is it okay now to be critical of the CDC ‘vaxx.boosts…boost…boost but don’t check antibodies because their levels are no indication of protection but you must boost because antibody levels are dropping to a variant that has been gone for a year’ mantra?
When can one call BS???
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Antibody tests are not that commonly used generally (i.e. for any type of viral disease, not just COVID-19) because they commonly cost as much as or more than vaccination, and require sending a sample to a lab (and not all available antibody tests are quantitative).
They appear to be mostly used in the context of trying to make sure that someone who is vaccinated is not one of the small percentage who does not develop antibodies from vaccination in the context of higher risk jobs (e.g. health care workers, EMTs).
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The science on Covid is fairly primitive. We only have very rudimentary understanding of it. With all the uncertainties, it’s impossible to generalize a set of guidelines that work for everyone and in every situation. Yet, we demand simplicity when there’s none. We don’t seem to be capable of making small sacrifices in order to deal with the uncertainties and complexities associated with Covid.
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She’s going to a wedding this weekend, unmasked. She will antigen test before the wedding (she didn’t say it was required), presumably so that she will know if she is positive (and then wouldn’t go). Yet despite her saying that she doesn’t want to get covid (she knows many who have long covid), she doesn’t care if she gets exposed by being unmasked?