Is it Time to Order New Masks? ‘You Betcha!’

So far, CDC has not announced any new mask mandates but three new COVID-19 variants have spread across the country leading to an increase in hospitalizations. This week, alone, hospitalizations climbed nearly 22% and CDC has predicted further increases over the coming month as new variants spread. This replaces previous projections from the agency that admissions would “remain stable or have an uncertain trend.”

So, about those masks…..

• Dr. Céline Gounder, a CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News said, “People 65-plus and people who are immunocompromised should strongly consider masking during flu, RSV, COVID season while in indoor public spaces.”
• What about those under 65? “It all depends on what their risk tolerance is.”

CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook says he likes to use the “weather report analogy” for the general public.”What’s the weather out today? If it’s raining, you will probably want to bring an umbrella. If you are in an area where there is an uptick in airborne respiratory infections like COVID, flu or RSV, you may want to take extra precautions, such as wearing a high-quality mask in indoor public spaces,” he said.

• Two major hospitals in New York as well as health care company Kaiser Permanente at its Santa Rosa, California, facilities have reintroduced mandatory masking.
• Movie studio Lionsgate is also reportedly resuming a mask requirement at its Santa Monica headquarters.
• In Georgia, a small liberal arts college is requiring masks for two weeks as COVID-19 spread among students. Morris Brown College also limited events on campus.

“There will be no parties or large student events on campus for the next two weeks,” the school said in a statement.It’s unclear how many more institutions will reimplement mask mandates given how highly politicized the measure has become.

CDC expects new Covid vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax to be available in mid-September

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects updated Covid vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax to be available to the public in mid-September, an agency official said.
• That amounts to the most specific timeline to date for the new shots, which are designed to target omicron subvariant XBB.1.5.
• Those vaccines still need approvals from the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC, which will form eligibility guidelines.

Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax designed their updated vaccines to target the omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, which is slowly declining in prevalence nationwide. But initial trial data from all three drugmakers suggest the new shots will still protect against EG.5. 

“One of the manufacturers have already made it clear that when testing their vaccine against the EG.5 that it looks like the neutralization is robust,” an FDA official told reporters Thursday. 

But it’s unclear how well the new shots will protect against another new omicron strain of the virus called BA.2.86, which has been identified in a very small number of cases in the U.S., U.K., Denmark and Israel.

***And of course MAGAt World has to act ignorant AF about COVID-19 and the shots that protect us from becoming very ill, landing in the hospital, or in the morgue.

Conspiracy theorist spreads false information about the return of COVID-19 mandates

He’s Saying this as ‘American’ as He Can:

Maybe Some of those Death Buoys Can Stop the Spread of COVID-19:

For the ‘Pumpkin Magic’ Folks:

Scientists continue to learn more about COVID-19 and COVID-19 immunity. At this time, SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests do not tell you if:

• You currently have COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus,
• You have immunity that will prevent COVID-19,
• You need a COVID-19 vaccine, or
• Your COVID-19 vaccine worked.

***Spreading COVID-19 misinformation should be a federal crime with a sentence of no less than 10 years for each FALSE claim in a maximum security facility. In other words, LIFE behind bars. Wrongful Death suits caused by COVID-19 misinformation? You Betcha!

More information on the waste of money, ‘fulls’ {sic} errand bs, found at Jama Network.

COVID Antibody Tests: Are They Necessary?

In most cases, however, getting an antibody test to determine immunity is a fool’s errand, infectious disease doctors agree. The tests for antibodies, also known as serology tests, do not provide the answers that most people are seeking.
Both the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration advise against using antibody tests to determine one’s level of immunity against COVID-19. So does the Infectious Disease Society of America, which represents infectious disease specialists.