And this is why I plan to keep my N95 mask on while flying indefinitely… Nothing is fool-proof, but it’s much better than nothing…
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You don’t have to sneeze or cough to spread Covid. Aerosols, not just droplets, remember?
Yes, yes. I know.
Good point, and probably true. But that seems like a technologically solvable problem, not a good reason to leave the aircraft unventilated while on the ground (with passengers). Not in the covid era.
Eventually, possibly as soon as May 3, the US is going to end the mask requirement for passengers on airplanes. It seems that the CDC and FAA should develop requirements for aircraft ventilation that ensure high quality, unpolluted, clean air at all times while on the ground, whenever the aircraft is occupied by passengers (or crew).
That would take years to implement. The smart thing to do is not be fucking idiots and lift mask requirements during a pandemic.
I read that this would require massive changes to every commercial plane and billions if dollars - unlikely to happen
Alameda County’s looking good. Cases down 50%. Slight increase in hospital admissions and beds, as expected after the slight increase in cases over the previous weeks.
| 2/24/22 | 3/3/22 | 3/10/22 | 03/17/22 | 03/24/22 | 03/31/22 | 04/07/22 | 04/14/22 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COVID Inpatient Bed Utilization | 8.0% | 5.6% | 4.5% | 3.1% | 2.5% | 2.2% | 1.7% | 1.9% |
| COVID Hospital Admissions per 100k | 9.1 | 7.4 | 6 | 4.1 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 2.3 | 2.6 |
| Cases per 100k | 106.02 | 279.24* | 60.07 | 47.93 | 49.92 | 50.14 | 59.83 | 30.28 |
| COVID-19 Community Level | Low | Medium* | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low |
| *wrong |
It’s not likely that the hospitalization numbers will ever go to zero and stay there. Covid isn’t going to go away. The hospitalization data for Alameda look pretty good, even if they’re leveling off.
On another subject, this short opinion piece makes interesting reading:
(I think the byline was supposed to say “extended”, not “expanded”.)
Here’s an easy-to-read discussion about how T-cells provide long-term protection against severe covid disease. The article makes mention of a somewhat ominous reason (that I hadn’t heard before) why too many mRNA boosters might actually be a bad thing, impairing rather than enhancing T-cell protection, even while boosting short-term antibody protection.
The link also includes a nifty embedded video that explains the immune system response to pathogens generally, in an entertaining way.
Pretty badly written and also some wrong statements like “Also, the second booster provided little extra protection against COVID-19 when compared to the initial three doses.” - There are clearly studies out which show that the fourth shot (second booster) provided significant increase of protection
The second booster provides short-term (months) antibody protection against infection.
The more important thing is the long-term protection against severe disease provided by T-cells.
There are 2 articles from the New England Journal of Medicine this month (one of the graphs posted by @honkman comes from one of those articles) that indicate that severe illness is also decreased by a 2nd booster/4th shot.
Based on the timing of the second booster it is not even known how much it will improve long term protection but existing data already shows that it lowers mortality significantly compared to first booster - as I said, not terrible well written article.
| 2/24/22 | 3/3/22 | 3/10/22 | 03/17/22 | 03/24/22 | 03/31/22 | 04/07/22 | 04/14/22 | 04/21/22 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COVID Inpatient Bed Utilization | 8.0% | 5.6% | 4.5% | 3.1% | 2.5% | 2.2% | 1.7% | 1.9% | 1.8% |
| COVID Hospital Admissions per 100k | 9.1 | 7.4 | 6 | 4.1 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 2.8 |
| Cases per 100k | 106.02 | 279.24* | 60.07 | 47.93 | 49.92 | 50.14 | 59.83 | 30.28 | 153.23 |
| COVID-19 Community Level | Low | Medium* | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low |
| *wrong |
I suspect the CDC got the case rate wrong again. Other sources e.g. the NY TImes do not show a spike since last week.
Two sets of numbers for 04/14/22? The last column must be 04/21/22.
Whether or not the case number is correct for the last entry, the hospitalization data have been pretty much steady all month.
This isn’t about virus particles, but it’s a good example of the FAA and airlines blatantly lying about known cabin air quality issues.
At least there was passing mention of the pandemic in the LAT article:
backers of the new legislation hope that the attention on airplane air during the pandemic will help tip the balance.
Like the need to have pure, fresh air in the cabin when passenger aircraft are stationary, which as you & Honkman have pointed out would likely take years to implement, this new thrust for detecting and remedying vitiated cabin air from leaks in the engine bypasses would take a long time to develop and install, and cost a lot. But perhaps it would also inspire starting the process for responding to toxic mist (e.g., covid “aerosol”) contamination as well.
Omicron, “Deltacron”, XE (which sounds a lot like a Microsoft OS), BA.2, and now BA.2.12.1. Another month, another variant, so it seems. With each one getting headlines and causing yet more nail-biting because it’s dominating over the previous variant. It’s a good thing that every flu variant and every cold variant doesn’t get headlines every month, year after year, or none of us would have any fingernails left to bite.
And yeah, I know – covid is more dangerous than most colds or flu variants. But this latest covid variant is probably no more virulent than its predecessor.
This from an ABC news article today:
BA.2.12.1 was responsible for 29% of new COVID-19 infections nationally last week, according to data reported Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And it caused 58% of reported infections in the New York region.
So if there were two infections in the New York region yesterday and two more today, one of which was BA2.12.1 (that’s a real mouthful), that would be 50% of the new reported infections.
Percentages can be so misleading.
Beside past results are not a prediction of future issues, one of the main issue is most likely long covid and its impact on society. Assuming there won’t be any real mega breakthrough variants in the future, it is becoming clearer and clearer that even asymptomatic people might have higher chance of heart disease etc. and that long covid symptoms are very persistent at many people. And so tracking variants which are even more infectious is important from that aspect as it increases the chance of even fully vaccinated and boostered people to have quite severe outcomes