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Medicine

More Than Half of Americans Have Been Infected With COVID-19 At Least Once, Says CDC (nytimes.com) 263

The common perception that nearly everyone in America seemed to have acquired the Omicron variant last winter may not have been far from the truth. By February 2022, nearly 60 percent of the population had been infected with the coronavirus, almost double the proportion seen in December 2021, according to data released on Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The New York Times reports: "By February 2022, evidence of previous Covid-19 infections substantially increased among every age group," Dr. Kristie Clarke, the agency researcher who led the study, said at a news briefing. Infections rose most sharply during the Omicron surge among children and adolescents, perhaps because many people in those age groups were still unvaccinated. The increase was smallest among adults 65 or older, who have the highest rate of vaccination and may be the most likely to take precautions. The new research suggests that three out of four children and adolescents in the United States had been infected with the coronavirus by February 2022, compared with one-third of older adults.

While some studies suggest that prior infection offers a weaker shield against the virus than vaccines do, the resulting antibodies should provide a reasonable degree of protection against severe illness, at least in the short term. "We still do not know how long infection-induced immunity will last," Dr. Clarke said. The gains in population-wide immunity may explain why the new surge that is roaring through China and many countries in Europe has been muted in the United States so far. The findings may offer some comfort to parents who have been waiting anxiously for a vaccine to be approved for the youngest children. Many of those children now seem to have acquired at least some immunity. Even so, Dr. Clarke urged parents to immunize children who qualify as soon as regulators approve a vaccine for them, regardless of any prior infection.

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More Than Half of Americans Have Been Infected With COVID-19 At Least Once, Says CDC

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  • Failing up (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2022 @05:10PM (#62482122)
    that's what one news outlet called it. We didn't get hit as hard by the BA.2 variant as the rest of the world not because we were well prepared, masked up and vaccinated but because so many folks got sick (and died) there weren't a lot left to get sick (or die).

    Like Churchill said, you can always count on America to do the right thing after trying absolutely everything else first.
    • that's what one news outlet called it. We didn't get hit as hard by the BA.2 variant as the rest of the world not because we were well prepared, masked up and vaccinated but because so many folks got sick (and died) there weren't a lot left to get sick (or die).

      I have discussed this with a few folks, and they tend to want to put a person in the anti-vaxxer camp if the person dares say anything like that.

      Which is weird, because I've gotten the initial shots, the booster, and will be getting the second booster soon. It's just like wearing a condom if you want to avoid becoming a papa or catch snifulous.

      But yes - the Covid-19 virus took out a lot of people that it was going to take out, and a lot who were anti-vaxxers on a sort of random basis. We learned how t

      • Re:Failing up (Score:4, Insightful)

        by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2022 @05:43PM (#62482256)

        >"Locally, the death numbers are now down in the noise levels, along with other flu strains. It's hard to call it a pandemic any more when it's only a couple people a week against our population base."

        Indeed. It is now ENDEMIC, which most expected.

        >"Masking made sense at the time,"

        That depends on what you mean by "at the time" which masks. Until we knew it was an aerosolized, air-borne virus It might have been reasonable. But we knew it pretty quickly, and typical cloth and paper masks don't do much against aerosolized virus spread, especially the way most people handled and wore them. N-95 type, properly fitted, worn, handled, and replaced, at that point, was the only "effective" masking.

        • >"Masking made sense at the time,"

          That depends on what you mean by "at the time" which masks. Until we knew it was an aerosolized, air-borne virus It might have been reasonable. But we knew it pretty quickly, and typical cloth and paper masks don't do much against aerosolized virus spread, especially the way most people handled and wore them. N-95 type, properly fitted, worn, handled, and replaced, at that point, was the only "effective" masking.

          Same goes for all those poster-sized acrylic barriers that sprang up everywhere. The companies manufacturing/selling those things surely must've made as much money in the past two years as they made in the entire past two decades.

          Physical barriers made sense as a potential mitigation at the time because we were thinking of it in scenarios that were easy for laypeople to understand visually -- that scene early in a plague/zombie movie where the audience watches Patient Zero sneeze on someone in a bus station

    • It’s almost like any plan at all, even a bad one, is better than none at all.
  • >"We still do not know how long infection-induced immunity will last,"

    We also still do not "know" how long vaccine-induced immunity will last, either. Most studies I have seen show that infection-induced immunity is strong and lasts quite a long time (as in many months to possibly years). How effective antibodies from one variant will be against various other variants that come out isn't that well known, either. And as was saw, the vaccines lost a lot of effectiveness (from infection) against Omicron.

    • At this point, the flu shot is making a joke of the modern wonder that was the COVID shot. Kids under five still aren't even eligible and they are still testing using a version that targets only the original variant. It's shameful.

      But I don't see an issue with there being annual or twice yearly shots if it continues to improve outcomes. But we won't have that if it doesn't get adapted.

      • Well, the technology for old flu vaccinations are a "guess what might come out" type thing, and are not greatly variant-proof. I took last year's flu vaccine as usual, but it turns out (like it has in many years) to have been very, very ineffective at what ultimately spread. Still I will take it anyway... I have for 30+ years.

        The technology for the COVID-19 vaccinations is far more robust. Even so, it will need adjustments to help deal with variants. I am perfectly willing to take updated vaccines for C

        • That's why more frequent boosters are needed. It's a very imperfect match so it only works if it's very recent.

          • by edwdig ( 47888 )

            That's why more frequent boosters are needed. It's a very imperfect match so it only works if it's very recent.

            That's some of the issue, but not the main issue. The big problem is the rate the virus replicates in your body. The original strain of COVID-19 was one of the fastest replicating viruses we've ever seen. The more recent strains replicate significantly faster than anything else we've dealt with.

            If you've recently been vaccinated or infected, you have very high levels of antibodies in your blood. As time pass, the levels go down, and eventually reach a level where they'll stay long term. This level is enough

            • If the only goal was to prevent infection altogether, I would worry about that. As long as it curbs the risks of severe disease and all the weird clotting disorders, it's still worth it.

        • On the other hand, masking and distancing may have wiped out at least one flu variant.

          Imagine what we could accomplish if we actually incorporated germ theory into the way we build things.

          Your air exchange system has more to do with your COVID risk than your mask. Maybe even more than the vaccine.

          • >"Imagine what we could accomplish if we actually incorporated germ theory into the way we build things. Your air exchange system has more to do with your COVID risk than your mask. Maybe even more than the vaccine."

            Absolutely. I think the idea of putting UV scrubbers/zappers and HEPA filters in HVAC systems for public buildings could be a HUGE win. Might need to be combined with increased (and non-stop) airflow settings.

    • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2022 @09:24PM (#62482714)
      The vast majority of studies I've seen indicate that vaccine-induced immunity is much more durable than virus induced immunity. When the two combine you do seem to get something better than one or the other, but if you're choosing between one or the other you go with vaccination.

      And that's before you stop for a moment and think about the risk of getting covid. Measle parties were an incredibly dangerous and stupid idea.

      That said I will be waiting for my fourth shot but not because I don't trust and want vaccines but because I'm trying to time it for another Spike. So probably be around the time I get my flu shot
      • The only reason the vaccine should be chosen over natural infection is the risk of a bad case. If you choose a vaccine, then you should stop masking and expose yourself to a natural infection before your vaccine wears off. Because natural immunity is how we actually stop this long-term.

    • It is not unreasonable to think that an infection of Omicron offers better protection against recent mutations than even the now aging vaccines.

      Actually, unfortunately, it is. I use to think that too but there have been several articles from virologists pointing out that once you get a large degree of immunity to one strain whichever strain that manages to mutate to avoid it becomes a new dominant strain and there is no reason to suppose that this will be a derivative of omicron.

      However, it seems that some work is now being done to develop vaccines that will let the immune system target parts of the virus that are much harder to mutate than the

      • by edwdig ( 47888 )

        Actually, unfortunately, it is. I use to think that too but there have been several articles from virologists pointing out that once you get a large degree of immunity to one strain whichever strain that manages to mutate to avoid it becomes a new dominant strain and there is no reason to suppose that this will be a derivative of omicron.

        The faster replicating strains seem to be so dominant that they wipe out the older strains. Delta pretty much eliminated the original strain, and Omicron has pretty much eliminated Delta. The older strains can't mutate if they're not circulating.

        Also keep in mind the primary reason Omicron is so bad - it replicates way faster than any other virus we've seen. Omicron replicates so fast that your immune system can't prevent infection unless have extremely high antibody levels. If it's been a while since you'v

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • >"With that said, I'd like to think that the measures we attempted did have a positive effect."

      Some did, like vaccinations and EVENTUALLY protecting the elderly in institutions. Many did not or had very little impact, like cloth masking, gloves, simple social distancing. Others created probably as much or more damage and death than saved damage and death, like the shutdowns combined with extreme fear-mongering.

      >"Next time, we'll know better than to shut everything down"

      Or force people to wear drople

      • Social distancing had a huge impact.

        Standing in line at the grocery store trying to find your 6' marker sticker is not social distancing.

        Eating two tables away from other patrons is not social distancing.

        Social distancing is staying home.

    • I don't want to write off "shutting it down" as an option, quarantine is the the purest core form of pandemic treatment. It's especially important if your rates are spiking and your hospitals are at risk of being overwhelmed.

      Thing is you have to shut it all the way down, like to the bones and close to everywhere at once, which means you need a plan in place ahead of time for how you deal with utilities, food, the elderly and infirmed and you really need some form of central coordination and cooperation.

      Qu

  • I got COVID-Classic yesterday and lost my sense of smell. How long does the loss of smell last?

    • I got COVID-Classic yesterday and lost my sense of smell. How long does the loss of smell last?

      It varies wildly from person to person. When I got Original Recipe Covid, I spent about a week being completely incapable of tasting or smelling a blessed thing. I literally couldn't tell the difference between milk and lemon juice, and couldn't smell either steak or bleach.

      The second week it started to peek through. I wasn't able to tell whether i was drinking red wine or white wine, but I was able to tell that i was drinking wine rather than coffee. I usually find jalebi [wikipedia.org] so sweet that a container would la

      • I will also point out that many viral infections can cause loss of smell, not just COVID-19. My whole life I have known people who lost their smell for days, weeks, or months after certain colds and flus. The good news is that although it seems more common and longer-lasting with COVID-19, I haven't seen any hard evidence of it being permanent.

    • by PPH ( 736903 )

      How long does the loss of smell last?

      Until after the mid-term election.

  • by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Wednesday April 27, 2022 @05:25AM (#62483320)

    TFS goes on and on about how many people have been "infected", within the context of global pandemic and vaccines.

    Vaccines do not make you immune from catching the virus. They work to make your body rather immune from the effects of it. Therefore, it is naturally assumed with any virulent disease or virus that most people are going to get infected with it. Probably well over 50%. It's kind of the entire point of working to develop a vaccine. We certainly don't go through that amount of effort for everything out there.

    Given that fact, why are we speaking in bullshit-clickbait-scaremongering dialect here? Are we going to start talking about the flu like this too? I'll bet a very large percentage of Americans have caught the flu. Some have died from it. And? Sadly, I can't even begin to believe COVID statistics anymore due to the incurable Disease of Greed that has plagued our species for thousands of years, which of course is yet another reason to write an article to help kick up booster demand that is dropping faster than a CNN+ audience.

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