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Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

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Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#71
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> like New Zealand, You mean an island nation with strict control over their ports and borders?

Not sure why this is downvoted; it’s absolutely correct. European, Asian, and North/South American supply chains are internally integrated. A truck driver transports goods from the Czech Republic to France and unloads them at the destination. For New Zealand it’s not like the ship’s crew is unloading goods at the last mile. A similar effect is at play in Hawaii, but the latter can’t deny entry to US residents because…

> European, Asian, and North/South American supply chains are internally integrated. A truck driver transports goods from the Czech Republic to France and unloads them at the destination.

But does that truck driver need to have direct contact with other people to do their job? Why can't they unload their cargo, sleep at a quarantine facility, and then drive a new truckload in the opposite direction, without an opportunity to infect anyone else?

Also, island nations still have internal traffic. What's different about the borders between parts of Australia that allowed them to be closed when European borders had to stay open?

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vaccines appear to be plenty effective enough to stop the spread, if enough people get them. We don't have great information about the variants, but the big improvements in Israel and England are encouraging, even with vaccination still ongoing.

Well I will get the vaccine as soon as I can get it (which is not very soon, sadly). I'm not anti-vax, but the last few weeks the news has been all about "Don't be surprised if people still get COVID after being vaccinated". Like here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26522853 With that in mind I don't think eradication will be achievable. It only takes one person with a resistant mutation. I think we can hope to…

What does 'control' mean? In humans, if a small number of people are sick and you know who they are, you can eradicate the infection with isolation (it would only take a couple months).

That it infects various animals may make that unworkable, and the difficulty in vaccinating a large percentage of people globally is another problem.

But the effectiveness of the vaccines against the current variants does not appear to be a problem, high levels of vaccination will slow the spread of the virus dramatically in those populations, to the point where it barely exists (compare to polio, which is still endemic in some places around the world).

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wearing masks have benefits beyond covid. Think about how many lives per year we could save from the flu let alone other airborne respiratory viruses if mask wearing was normalized.

Agreed. I think of the 5+ times I’ve gotten sick from planes and airports and I kick myself for not having worn masks during air travel in years past.

You probably need everyone else wearing masks to have a big effect and that's not likely to be the case going forward although you can obviously take whatever precautions you like.

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#74
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For every person that dies (an agonizing death akin to medieval torture), a few more are in intensive care fighting for their lives. For every one of those, others end up in the hospital, spread the disease to others, suffer from “long covid”, or merely suffer greatly. Every person that gets covid adds to the likelihood the disease will become uncontrollable in the long term and endemic. Keep wearing your masks and s…

> Keep wearing your masks and social distancing people. It’s hard, it’s a sacrifice, but together we can conquer this disease and return to life “as normal”. This ghost is not going back into the bottle. It's way too widespread for that now. Even the WHO has determined that. Even if one country manages it, some tourist will bring it in. The vaccines don't stop the spread enough either to kill it completely. People wi…

Sounds a lot like the flu.

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#75

For people arguing that not being part of a risk group is a reason not to protect yourself, please take a lesson from brazil. Being part of a 'high risk group' does not saves you from infecting other people who are part of such groups. That's basically what happened in brazil: people who were not part of risk groups crowded, encouraged by the president himself[0][1][2]. The number of infected poeple soared and varian…

Also for selfish reasons. I know a 24 year old ballerina (so a professional athlete) who had it two months ago and is now at 80% lung capacity.

And to pile on this, I know a triathelete in my group, 24 years old, who had it in April of LAST YEAR and is still not at 100% (can't do any hard aerobics without getting wildly out of breath).

We are still in a pandemic. Stay distant.

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#76

For people arguing that not being part of a risk group is a reason not to protect yourself, please take a lesson from brazil. Being part of a 'high risk group' does not saves you from infecting other people who are part of such groups. That's basically what happened in brazil: people who were not part of risk groups crowded, encouraged by the president himself[0][1][2]. The number of infected poeple soared and varian…

I am hearing from friends and family in Brasil that the Brasilian variant is more severe among younger victims than the original COVID version. There is an increase of deaths among twenty-year-olds as a result.

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t see any reason new variants would ever stop coming. What are you proposing is the end point of all of this?

Regular vaccinations, just like the flu

Plus widely available monoclonal antibodies to be administered as soon as a positive test.

Plus the development of other antivirals.

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also for selfish reasons. I know a 24 year old ballerina (so a professional athlete) who had it two months ago and is now at 80% lung capacity.

And to pile on this, I know a triathelete in my group, 24 years old, who had it in April of LAST YEAR and is still not at 100% (can't do any hard aerobics without getting wildly out of breath). We are still in a pandemic. Stay distant.

It used to be common to reply to this sort of fear mongering with "anecdotes aren't data." Cool anecdote, bro.

Sorry for that person you, a random internet person I have no reason to trust, allegedly know, who is very, very unlucky.

The people in power want us to stay afraid and easy to control. Fauci says vaccines work but doesn't trust them enough to stop going into public with TWO masks! Despite being vaccinated!

Why would I get a vaccine that doesn't quell the fears of "the nation's top doctor" enough for him to stop wearing the masks? Or are the masks just for show?

We may still be in a pandemic but it's time to stop panicking, face the danger, and get on with society and our lives before we cause bigger problems like famine societal breakdown!

Some people may die of COVID in the process, but someone is going to die no matter what choice we make, from deprivation, from isolation, from side effects, from economic distress

COVID might suck but there are far worse things, I think it's safe to say, after a year, this thing isn't Ebola.

Now commence downvoting to show you disagree! Surely it will change my mind this time!

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#79
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New Zealand’s results are largely due to it being a small, isolated nation. Hawaii similarly enjoys the fewest COVID cases per capita of the US.

And furthermore their border is still essentially closed. Their approach was almost certainly the right one for them but locking down access in that way was never practical for most countries.

You’re totally right. It’s strange to see random self-righteous, presumably highly-educated, safety-minded people suggest that the US should just be New Zealand. There’s been some really wildly unworkable things offered as though it’s just obviously correct.

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#80
post #76

For people arguing that not being part of a risk group is a reason not to protect yourself, please take a lesson from brazil. Being part of a 'high risk group' does not saves you from infecting other people who are part of such groups. That's basically what happened in brazil: people who were not part of risk groups crowded, encouraged by the president himself[0][1][2]. The number of infected poeple soared and varian…

I am hearing from friends and family in Brasil that the Brasilian variant is more severe among younger victims than the original COVID version. There is an increase of deaths among twenty-year-olds as a result.

All the more reason to stop all strains as soon as possible. If more contagious strains can be knocked below the sustainability threshold then they'll die out too.
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