Medical Discussion of Coronavirus

[Tim]

Sounds like those faint line positive pregnancy tests. Solution..Blood test.

Or you can wait for CDC and the FDA to provide guidance. Seriously, even an ignorant illogical person like myself knows a pregnancy blood test for a male won’t help!

The real question, what actions are you going to take now? Feeling better? Any actionable results?

[Hatton]

The instructions indicate that a faint line is considered to be positive.

If that was a Pregnancy test a faint line like that would likely be a quantitative HCG of say15. It could be a miscarriage or a very early normal pregnancy. More info is needed. Usually the female is pregnant it may not be viable.

[artemis]

The instructions indicate that a faint line is considered to be positive.

I suspect what you're seeing there is the test cross-reacting to antigens from another coronavirus. The antigen tests aren't as specific as the PCR tests.

[CordMcNally]

With that antigen test and a negative PCR, I would feel confident that you don't have it.

[Tim]

Dr. Birx: Government hasn’t been using COVID data to inform Americans in a transparent way.

Actually, this is the one person that was able to bite her tongue and actually get back to facts and data through out this pandemic. Feel free to differ, but I never once doubted that she was anything but trying to communicate facts as they were.
She just said something that completely alters the context of the vaccine debate and any questions.
Regarding herd immunity, "Herd immunity depends on lasting protection. Vaccines and prior infection both wane. It does not matter if either has occurred, herd immunity isn't possible. " Paraphrased.

In other words, stop arguing about prior infection and vaccinating, move on and figure out how best to handle reinfection. It is happening, period.
Is it therapeutics or more vaccine boosters more efficient? Have not heard yet that topic even being discussed. The only thing I have heard is both for those over 65 and/or immune compromised. It would be nice if transparent data was available. We have know the high risk category for 2+ years.

Of course, Dr, Birx is selling a book. Feel free to give me a grain of salt.

[artemis]

In other words, stop arguing about prior infection and vaccinating, move on and figure out how best to handle reinfection. It is happening, period.
Is it therapeutics or more vaccine boosters more efficient? Have not heard yet that topic even being discussed.

No one knows the answer to that question yet, unfortunately. That is why you're not hearing much discussion about it; it's hard to have an informed discussion without data.

[nephron]

Kamala Harris is a great case study in showing how many cases of covid are undiagnosed. No symptoms, vaccinated, picked up on routine screening tests. I would have thought that she'd be "immune" to ever having the virus after her husband contracted it but she never tested positive in March. Previous infections/vaccinations become less and less relevant as time goes on in terms of contracting the virus, although they do seem to protect against serious complications. The cdc is now suggesting that over 50% of adults have had covid, and 3/4 of children have had it despite our efforts at closing schools and wearing masks. If you are around other people not wearing an n-95, you are probably going to be exposed to covid at some point. Whether or not you have symptoms or actually get sick is probably just a function of your age, medical comorbidities, vaccination/prior infection status, and genetics. I have seen patients with 2-3 prior covid infections, I think that it's just always going to be in the background.
https://apnews.com/article/cdc-covid...ff939e7bbc7c80

[Savedfpdoc]

Oh how far we’ve come in 2022…5 tests to diagnose a common cold.

[CordMcNally]

I see where Pfizer wants an emergency use authorization for booster shots for kids ages 5-11. I wonder what the emergency is?

[HikingDO]

I see where Pfizer wants an emergency use authorization for booster shots for kids ages 5-11. I wonder what the emergency is?

Their stock price and profits aren’t as high as they’d like.

[Hatton]

I wanted to report to the group that I finally caught COVID. I went to a funeral of a fellow OB/GYN. I was vaccinated and had had 2 boosters. I thought I had a sinus infection but the home Covid test was positive. Due to my age I took Paxlovid. I am out of quarantine and doing fine.

[CordMcNally]

I wanted to report to the group that I finally caught COVID. I went to a funeral of a fellow OB/GYN. I was vaccinated and had had 2 boosters. I thought I had a sinus infection but the home Covid test was positive. Due to my age I took Paxlovid. I am out of quarantine and doing fine.

Good to hear you’re doing well!

[billy]

I wanted to report to the group that I finally caught COVID. I went to a funeral of a fellow OB/GYN. I was vaccinated and had had 2 boosters. I thought I had a sinus infection but the home Covid test was positive. Due to my age I took Paxlovid. I am out of quarantine and doing fine.

glad youre doing well.

I also just got covid, only tested myslef bc I was flying to see a friend with a 3 month old. last week I had a slight cough after running (always happens), tested, and was negative. This week tested solely for the flight and positive. I guess eventually we will all catch it, but Im thankful I was vaccinated so I didnt even notice having it.

[StarTrekDoc]

Good to hear you’re doing well!

Glad you're back on your feet. Watch out for rebound. We're seeing a bit of this with some folk who have a tendency of higher risk and difficulty clearing the virus.

Some folk with lower immune systems can be active 10+ days typically and those taking paxlovid help initially, but still that rebound phenomenon later 1-3 weeks later.

[CordMcNally]

As far as COVID goes, it seems like we had a mini-surge in cases that paled in comparison to January but that seems to have plateaued. We typically have several active COVID inpatients. These patients are almost all vaccinated these days so I would assume they have significant underlying co-morbidities. Our last COVID patient intubated and our last COVID death was in early February.