NEW YORK—Muttering “mother of God” while shining a flashlight on the tunnel ceiling where the sticky substance he just stepped in seemed to be dripping from, gun-strapped CDC grunt Brock Lyndon reportedly yelled “Light ’em up, boys” Wednesday just as hundreds of baby coronaviruses burst out of their pulsating nest in the bowels of the New York City transit system. “Looks like coronavirus hunting season is officially open, gentlemen,” said the smirking captain of the CDC tactical team, who squeezed the trigger of his M134 minigun and sprayed bullets at the mass of squirming viruses, which sent a wave of Covid-19 spawn scuttling across the walls, floor, and ceiling toward the city above. “Welcome to New York, motherfuckers! Looks like this will be your last stop. Just like squishing roaches, huh, Nitro? Carter, grab the fucking flamethrower! Torch these bastards! Christ, they’re everywhere! Carter? Oh shit, they got Carter!” At press time, Lyndon was overheard telling his team to go on without him before lighting a cigar and marching straight into the center of the swarm to set off the tactical nuke that had failed to detonate remotely.
Many groups worldwide are trying to develop vaccines that protect against a wide range of coronaviruses and prevent another pandemic. These efforts have now been boosted by the discovery that some healthcare workers had pre-existing immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus during the first wave of the pandemic. ...
However, when Leo Swadling and Mala Maini at University College London and their colleagues looked more closely, they found some of those who tested negative had a protein in their blood that is linked to covid-19 infection, as well as T cell responses to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. T cells are part of the immune system. It appears these people had what Swadling calls an “abortive infection”, where a strong, early T cell response enabled them to get rid of the virus very quickly....
However, it isn’t clear how effective a vaccine that only produces a T cell response would be, Maini says. Most vaccines work by stimulating an antibody response, though many do also produce a T cell response.
Many groups are developing universal flu vaccines based on eliciting a T cell response, but so far these haven’t proved highly effective. Other teams are instead focusing on getting antibodies to target parts of the outer viral proteins of the flu virus that don’t mutate. However, this won’t work with coronaviruses, says Peter Palese at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. “They just don’t have a conserved region.”
Last paragraph sort of dashes some of the hope, though.
Remember in 2020 and then late Summer 2021 when we were shocked by 100K cases/day? We're now averaging 400K cases/day, 600 deaths, 20K critically ill at a time, and are still 21st for deaths/1M pop.
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
Remember in 2020 and then late Summer 2021 when we were shocked by 100K cases/day? We're now averaging 400K cases/day, 600 deaths, 20K critically ill at a time, and are still 21st for deaths/1M pop.
Tend to think the Europeans are right as the CDC recommends continuing isolation if you still test positive after five days....WTF?
I don't have an informed opinion, though I tend to favor people not getting sick and dying. I imagine that it's a spectrum and some are even still contagious after a week or 10 days. So, virulence gets weighed against the social and economic costs of quarantine, with shorter isolations accompanied by stringent urging of masks and testing. Then, perhaps more unique to the US than Europe, is the reality that more severe restrictions can lead to no compliance at all. I'm glad that I'm not deciding, and that I'm able to go with the longer quarantine if I get exposed or sick.
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
Of course, balanced against the much increased transmission rate of the Omicron variant may be the decreased severity of symptoms of Omicron vs. Delta or Alpha variants. It's why some experts are predicting that eventually Covid will become endemic; that is more like the common cold in terms of its effect upon human existence, such as it is.
The problem being is that apparently we are not "there" yet.
The last time I went into my HMO, to pick up some prescriptions, about a month ago, a worker at the door cherrily asked if I was there for a covid test. Idiot that I am, I said "No" and went on my merrry way to the pharmacy section. Now I'm sort of wishing I had said "Yes", however last year I had at least five covid tests, all of them negative (or "not detected"). Plus I'm vaxxed and boosted so there is that. Since then I've had what appears to be a common cold, but it's possible it was Omicron. Those symptoms are over now... so who knows. I did what I could, and continute to mask up and social distance. Only now I'm seeing news stories about how hard it is to get a covid test in this area. Go figure. Maybe when the Biden tests start rolling out I'll get another test. We'll see.
Local ICU COVID patients are "100% unvaccinated". MAYBE the CDC has decided that there should be minimal societal disruption in order to save COVIDiots.
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
Local ICU COVID patients are "100% unvaccinated". MAYBE the CDC has decided that there should be minimal societal disruption in order to save COVIDiots.
They want to thin the herd?
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000000101010202020303010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.
Local ICU COVID patients are "100% unvaccinated". MAYBE the CDC has decided that there should be minimal societal disruption in order to save COVIDiots.
They want to thin the herd?
Nttawwt , but MAYBE they think the herd shouldn't have to suffer in order to protect suicidal morons.
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
Wishing is not threatening. But in any case, I'm not wishing them harm. I'm wishing them the opportunity to exercise their individual freedom, to associate closely with others who have similar beliefs, to share hugs, kisses, and tubes of Ivermectin with old and new friends, and to eat from open buffets freed from the oppression of sneeze screens. It's not my fault if their life choices kill them.
Wishing is not threatening. But in any case, I'm not wishing them harm. I'm wishing them the opportunity to exercise their individual freedom, to associate closely with others who have similar beliefs, to share hugs, kisses, and tubes of Ivermectin with old and new friends, and to eat from open buffets freed from the oppression of sneeze screens. It's not my fault if their life choices kill them.
, but MAYBE they think the herd shouldn't have to suffer in order to protect suicidal morons.
Maybe local ICUs could double as party venues.
gibberish)
