Coronavirus:

[HONDO74]

What Joe Biden Said About a 'Second Pandemic'
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-seco ... ch-1717927

Video clips of President Joe Biden saying the U.S. needs to prepare for the next pandemic have gone viral on social media.

While speaking to the media in the Roosevelt Room on Tuesday, Biden praised his government's efforts to ensure children under five can now get vaccinations for COVID-19.

"This is a very historic milestone, a monumental step forward," Biden said during his speech.

"The United States is now the first country in the world to offer safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as six months old.

"In the first time in our fight against this pandemic, nearly every American can now have access to lifesaving vaccines. And we're ready."

IF WE ARE READY,WHAT"S THE PROBLEM

[HONDO74]

Super-infectious BA.5 is a coronavirus 'beast.'
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/super-i ... 28079.html

The growing dominance of two super-infectious Omicron subvariants is threatening to exacerbate California's coronavirus wave, but experts and officials say there are sensible steps residents can take to protect themselves.

Taking preventative measures is especially important now, as the two strains in question — BA.4, and especially BA.5 — have shown the ability to reinfect even those who recently contracted an earlier Omicron subvariant.

"This is one of the biggest implications of BA.5: A prior infection, including an Omicron infection as recent as last month, no longer provides robust protection from reinfection," Dr. Robert Wachter, chair of UC San Francisco’s department of medicine, wrote on Twitter over the weekend.

BA.5 made up an estimated 53.6% of new cases nationwide for the weeklong period that ended Saturday, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A month ago, the subvariant was thought to be responsible for a bit less than 10% of new cases.

“BA.5 is a different beast with a new superpower: Enough alteration in the spike protein that immunity from either prior vax or prior Omicron infection (including recent infection) doesn’t offer much protection,” according to Wachter.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

IF WE ARE READY,WHAT"S THE PROBLEM

Diseases can be moving targets. That little detail seems to elude almost everyone for some reason.

We're as ready as possible, but last time I checked the future remains an unknown. It's hindsight that's exercised by critics that seems ever so clear and obvious.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Enough alteration in the spike protein that immunity from either prior vax or prior Omicron infection (including recent infection) doesn’t offer much protection.....

Mutations happen....

[robert.]

Has this virus weakened?

[bob turner]

More of my friends are picking this one up - and most of them have had four shots. One, in paricular, had a weakened immune system, and died last month - a Scripps scientist I taught how to fly.
If you live in SoCal, go back to avoiding parties - I have stopped hugging the girls again; it is that serious!

[gregj410]

I have stopped hugging the girls again; it is that serious!

There’s a girl over on the California beaches not good enough thread that needs some hugging bob.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Has this virus weakened?

No. Why would it? And which variant are you referring to anyway? There are probably weaker mutated variants, although weaker is at best vague - weaker in what sense and vs. what immunization status?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I have stopped hugging the girls again

No fun there!

[robert.]

Has this virus weakened?

No. Why would it? And which variant are you referring to anyway? There are probably weaker mutated variants, although weaker is at best vague - weaker in what sense and vs. what immunization status?

I read an article way back in the 2019 or early 2020. That said a virus will tend to become more contagious and less severe. Not every virus but most loose severity.

[gregj410]

I have stopped hugging the girls again

No fun there!

Nancy has one for you and one for bob….no worries. You can suckle yourselves to sleep

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Has this virus weakened?

No. Why would it? And which variant are you referring to anyway? There are probably weaker mutated variants, although weaker is at best vague - weaker in what sense and vs. what immunization status?

I read an article way back in the 2019 or early 2020. That said a virus will tend to become more contagious and less severe. Not every virus but most loose severity.

Think about all the flu variants -- severity and contagion are variables. And, the targets of viruses also change. Immune systems change.

[v8vega]

What are the symptoms of the current variant? I have had something since last Sunday, not the flu. Super tired I spend half the day in bed.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

What are the symptoms of the current variant? I have had something since last Sunday, not the flu. Super tired I spend half the day in bed.

You couldn't possibly have it - you don't believe it's real. So whatever you do have is completely imaginary.

[HONDO74]

Not Covid-19 BUT

The New York Times
The U.S. May Be Losing the Fight Against Monkeypox, Scientists Say
https://news.yahoo.com/u-may-losing-fig ... 22888.html

As epidemics go, the monkeypox outbreak should have been relatively easy to snuff out. The virus does not spread efficiently except through intimate contact, and tests and vaccines were at hand even before the current outbreak.

Yet the response in the United States has been sluggish and timid, reminiscent of the early days of the COVID pandemic, experts say, raising troubling questions about the nation’s preparedness for pandemic threats.

The first cases of monkeypox were reported in May, but tests will not be readily available until sometime this month. Vaccines will be in short supply for months longer. Surveillance is spotty, and official case counts are likely a gross underestimate.

There are already at least 700 cases in the United States, but experts say the real number is likely to be much higher. There probably will be many more infections before the outbreak can be controlled, if at this point it can be controlled at all.