Town Hall VII – COVID Update

The following topics are covered…

Masks

  1. Manners
  2. Civility
  3. Courtesy
  4. Others’ fears
  5. Safety

 

Asymptomatic spread is not well quantified.

Fomites are also important.

COVID is building up.

You are exposed even with N95

Will get some incremental exposure and immunity

 

So wear a mask.

 

Vaccine

 

Covid19.ca.gov Roll out discussed.

 

Phase 1A: In California, atient-facing personnel=3 million people. Only 500,000 shots given. Not rolling out fast.

 

Phase 1B: Administrated through pharmacies.

 

Amount of people agreeing to vaccine was 70% a few months ago, now may be as low as 40%. Health-care workers 60%. Not enough for herd immunity.

 

Get Moderna or Phizer.

 

Both are mRNA vaccines. They are the RNA for the spike. Causes immune response. Body now recognized the spike protein. Block spike=block virus.

 

AstraZeneca is modified rhinovirus (common cold) virus.

 

Two kinds of immune system. Adaptive and innate. Innate has T-cells that kill cells it doesn’t recognize. Response is very durable. Immunization induce adaptive and innate immune response.

 

Info about the vaccines: www.chop.edu/news/news-views-3-questions-you-will-get-about-the-new-mrna-vaccines

 

Contagious due to shot? Not the case for mRNA vaccine. Discussion about reverse transcriptase not entirely accurate.

 

Self Testing

 

There are home kits. Labcorp has a kit. Abbot has a gadget.

 

These are not PCR tests and will miss 10% of the cases.

 

Home PCR coming soon.

 

Good idea to do these tests for peace of mind.

 

Status

 

Covid19.healthdata.org

 

In Santa Clara county testing is 8% positive. Similar to state. Seems to be 1% fatality rate. 80% cases in <60 years old. 85% deaths>65 years old.

 

Many cases in long-term care. Not all are old there.

 

Age is not the whole story. Season is important.

 

England has a very high death rate. Mexico, India and Japan very low.

 

Don’t think on terms of waves and spikes. It is simply going up.

 

Personal risk will not go up.

 

Virus Spread

 

Virus is 125 nanometers. Brownian (random) motion means viruses can float indefinitely. It means the virus is everywhere. It is surrounding us.

 

COVID and Common Cold are similar.

 

20% flu common, this year it’s 1%

 

New strains. There were always strains.

COVID is less lethal than SARS.

 

 

 

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

 

Question: Is six foot distancing still safe? The risk is variable. Some Have Partial Immunity. Due to exposure to similar viruses.

 

Question: Air travel? TSA inspection an issue? Air recirculation in plane: local circulation is a risk. Strongly suggest avoid air travel.

 

Vaccine Development Is Amazing

 

Will be fallout to other areas.

 

Question: If coworker is positive asymptomatic, when do you get a test? Get multiple tests.

 

Question: Vitamin D? Take 5000 IU/day or 20,000 once or twice a week, which ever works. Extreme doses not good. Measure to make sure levels are high. Zinc. Daily oral can suppress immune system. Eat zinc-rich foods. The effective way is the lozenge form.

 

Question: Are N95 masks good? Yes, but HEPA filters are better.

 

Question: How long will the vaccine be effective? Not known. Thinks it will be annual.

 

Question: Wipe down food? Yes.

Question: Coronavirus and Surfaces: How Long Does COVID-19 Live on Surfaces? See this link.

 

Question: Is hiking OK? Depends on the crowd size.

 

Question: Allergic reaction risk? It is very slight.

 

Question: More info on long-term effects? Yes. Some genomes are risky.

 

Question: Will this ever be over? It will always be with us.

 

 

  1 comment for “Town Hall VII – COVID Update

  1. Bernard Yosten
    January 11, 2021 at 12:37 pm

    Thank you for your continued efforts.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *