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  • Post FilkContinental COVID

    From Gary McGath@21:1/5 to All on Fri Oct 7 14:34:10 2022
    A large proportion of the attendees at FilkCONtinental last weekend got
    COVID. I've heard estimates from a quarter to a third. Every precaution
    was taken; vaccination and daily testing was required, and people wore
    masks. There were other groups in the same youth hostel in Wernigerode,
    and everyone ate in the same area.

    So far I haven't heard of anyone with a really bad case.
    --
    Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Rich Brown@21:1/5 to Gary McGath on Fri Oct 7 15:35:05 2022
    On 10/7/22 13:34, Gary McGath wrote:
    A large proportion of the attendees at FilkCONtinental last weekend got COVID. I've heard estimates from a quarter to a third. Every precaution
    was taken; vaccination and daily testing was required, and people wore
    masks. There were other groups in the same youth hostel in Wernigerode,
    and everyone ate in the same area.

    So far I haven't heard of anyone with a really bad case.

    Oh wow. Best wishes for speedy recoveries to all involved.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul Rubin@21:1/5 to Gary McGath on Fri Oct 7 14:28:48 2022
    Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> writes:
    A large proportion of the attendees at FilkCONtinental last weekend
    got COVID. I've heard estimates from a quarter to a third. Every
    precaution was taken; vaccination and daily testing was required, and
    people wore masks.

    I'm sad to hear this, and hope for quick and complete recovery for
    everyone. The most important precautions don't seem to get much
    attention, and those are ventilation and air filtration. See:

    https://lbourouiba.mit.edu/image-gallery/heathy-teaching

    about how to set that up for a classroom.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Gary McGath@21:1/5 to Paul Rubin on Sat Oct 8 08:52:32 2022
    On 10/7/22 5:28 PM, Paul Rubin wrote:
    Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> writes:
    A large proportion of the attendees at FilkCONtinental last weekend
    got COVID. I've heard estimates from a quarter to a third. Every
    precaution was taken; vaccination and daily testing was required, and
    people wore masks.

    I'm sad to hear this, and hope for quick and complete recovery for
    everyone. The most important precautions don't seem to get much
    attention, and those are ventilation and air filtration. See:

    https://lbourouiba.mit.edu/image-gallery/heathy-teaching

    about how to set that up for a classroom.

    Agreed on that, but it's often hard for conventions to control
    ventilation. Germans are, when they can be, bigger on open windows than
    we are in the US. I recall times in the Freusburg when they kept the
    windows open even though it made the room chilly.

    Another possible factor is that the Omicron booster isn't as easy to get
    in Germany and the UK as it is in the US. If you're under 60 and not immunocompromised, it can be hard to find a doctor who will give you the
    shot.

    --
    Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rick Hewett@21:1/5 to A harper tells me that Paul Rubin on Sat Oct 8 13:27:34 2022
    A harper tells me that Paul Rubin said:
    I'm sad to hear this, and hope for quick and complete recovery for
    everyone. The most important precautions don't seem to get much
    attention, and those are ventilation and air filtration. See:

    https://lbourouiba.mit.edu/image-gallery/heathy-teaching

    about how to set that up for a classroom.

    The main programme room wasn't too badly ventilated, but the rooms used
    for late night filking were harder to ventilate without also making the
    room a mite chilly. The high winds and heavy rain at times didn't help,
    as windows had to be closed to keep the rain out...

    I'm aware of 27 positives so far.

    A "test every morning" policy only really stands a chance if the tests
    can be relied upon to detect cases very early in the infectious stage.
    With some of the variants currently active, that would not seem to be
    the case. Sometimes, tests have turned positive before symptoms
    developed, but some people developed (mostly mild cold-like rather than flu-like or classic COVID) symptoms while continuing to test negative,
    and only started getting positive tests two or three days after the
    onset of those symptoms.

    Fingers crossed, thumbs pressed, that nobody develops a severe case.

    --
    ..Rick Hewett http://www.hewett.org/

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul Rubin@21:1/5 to Rick Hewett on Sat Oct 8 14:28:46 2022
    rick@chui.private (Rick Hewett) writes:
    but the rooms used for late night filking were harder to ventilate
    without also making the room a mite chilly

    HEPA or equivalent air filtration also helps remove the virus from the
    air. One of the big tragedies of the whole pandemic has been health authorities refusal to recognize airborne transmission.

    I wonder if anyone had a CO2 monitor in the late night rooms: CO2 in the
    air above background levels means it is in air that someone exhaled, so
    it is a decent measure of whether more ventilation is needed.

    A "test every morning" policy only really stands a chance

    Unfortunately, Omicron isn't always detected by rapid antigen tests:
    the infection may have to be pretty far along before the test picks
    it up. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00430-022-00730-z

    Fingers crossed, thumbs pressed, that nobody develops a severe case.

    Even mild cases can result in very persistent and unfortunate symptoms
    aka long covid. Let's keep fingers AND toes crossed, to handle both possibilities. :(

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Gary McGath@21:1/5 to Paul Rubin on Sun Oct 9 07:04:00 2022
    On 10/8/22 5:28 PM, Paul Rubin wrote:
    Even mild cases can result in very persistent and unfortunate symptoms
    aka long covid. Let's keep fingers AND toes crossed, to handle both possibilities. :(

    While I have no medical expertise, I think the popular term "long COVID"
    is confusing. The virus doesn't remain lurking to reactivate later, as
    happens with some other conditions.

    I don't think anyone knows yet quite how it works, but we know that
    COVID can hurt the nervous system (long-term loss of taste or smell),
    and it may do damage to other parts of the body that results in greater long-term risks. Statistics showing excess mortality support this notion
    but don't tell us how it happens.

    Spencer Love got hit with an especially nasty case. I've only learned
    about it by word of mouth from one person, but I assume that that much
    is true.

    Hopefully medical researchers will discover some treatment that people
    with COVID can take to reduce this damage.

    --
    Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul Rubin@21:1/5 to Gary McGath on Mon Oct 10 01:07:07 2022
    Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> writes:
    While I have no medical expertise, I think the popular term "long
    COVID" is confusing. The virus doesn't remain lurking to reactivate
    later, as happens with some other conditions.

    It isn't really clear, and as you say, there are a lot of unknowns.
    This mentions the possibility of lurking viral reservoirs, I think:

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-021-01104-y

    Spencer Love got hit with an especially nasty case.

    I'm sorry to hear that :(. I remember him from way back.

    Hopefully medical researchers will discover some treatment that people
    with COVID can take to reduce this damage.

    I think some incremental progress is being made, at least with some
    facets of the syndrome. I have collecting some links on and off and can
    send you what I have if you want, but the file is a disorganized mess.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)