To be fair you are required to vote in Australia 
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Do you have volunteer sausage delivery drivers lined up? Because the sausage sizzle is the most important thing Iāve learned about Aussie democracy
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Many people I know are up in arms because, 4 days before a HUGE anime con, the mask and vaxx requirements have been removed. Also: no refunds will be given.
It is coming to light that the venue is forcing this on the con?? The fuck?
At any rate, I used to vend at this thing, and it is literally body to body at all times. I feel for the artists who have sunk money into making the tons of merch that is needed, especially if they also have to fly in and stay at the hotel which also will not refunding anyone.
It feels like a consent violation, especially since a couple weeks ago con staff publicly assured everyone that covid restrictions would stay in place and not be relaxed.
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Thatās how I felt about the mask mandate on planes being removed midflight. People made decisions based on one set of precautions and then it just changes. Now what??
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I āknowā someone on Rav who went to a big work related meeting/convention in NO and while the meeting itself required masks, lots of people also went to JazzFest and now itās a superspreader event. So, thereās thatā¦
I feel like I know more people with Covid right now than ever before. Sigh.
I got my 4th shot this morning and the guy who was after me was there for both a Covid test AND his first shot.
More sighing.
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Anyone understand if antigen testing after infection is a good measure if youāre still contagious? I read some stuff in December saying it was a good idea to wait until you test negative on a home test before coming out of quarantine but since you can be contagious before you test positive is that still true?
I havenāt rapid tested since Wednesday because I was following public health and work guidelines about 10 days being fine but a friend wants me to rapid test before we hang out (which is cool and fine, Iām just curious what to do if Iām still testing positive)
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Someone else may have more updated information than I do, but I dug deep into this when we had COVID in February. Everything I could find, including from the CDC, said that as long as you had passed the days of quarantine, you were highly unlikely to be contagious. I was also finding that once you are already sick and have gotten a positive test, getting more positive tests isnāt an indicator that you are still contagious.
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My dd was warned that she could keep showing positive on a home test for weeks, but she was allowed to go back to work as soon as her quarantine was over.
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I think a lot of confusion comes about because of the difference between PCR and antigen tests. PCR tests arenāt very meaningful after youāve already been diagnosed, because the viral material they detect can hang around for weeks or months and get picked up on the test even if itās dead. Antigen tests, on the other hand, are measuring your bodyās response to the virus, and do seem to correlate to active viral load. From everything Iāve read, the antigen tests are actually a pretty good measure of how contagious you are. In the UK, they even allowed people to leave isolation prior to day 10 if they had two consecutive days of negative antigen tests.
Hereās a paper and a blog post with references that lay out the basic argument correlating rapid antigen tests and contagiousness.
Anecdotally, Iāve known multiple people with covid, and basically all of them started testing negative again somewhere between day 7 and day 14. Thereās going to be some variation in how long it takes each individual to clear the infection. When the CDC is outlining a 10-day (or 5-day) isolation, theyāre trying to balance a ton of factors. Of course they want everyone to stay home when they are the most contagious, but they have to consider the costs of long-term isolation on the economy, peopleās mental health, how dangerous covid is or isnāt with vaccines/antivirals/treatment available, etc. Most people are unlikely to still be contagious after 10 days, and theyāre usually at least less contagious after 5. But itās not black and white, and itās not like people immediately go from contagious to not contagious right at day 10.
tl;dr if youāre still testing positive on a rapid antigen test youāre probably still contagious, so it is indeed a good screening tool before you hang out with your friend! PCR test is pointless, though.
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This was basically my understanding but I havenāt seen anything updated for the fact you can be contagious before testing positive on the antigen so the amount of covid protein in your upper airways actually isnāt correlated to your contagiousness. But maybe youād test positive from a throat swab and thatās how youāre contagious?
This is why I stopped following all the āhacksā
I also am curious if the reason Mr Darling never got it is because heās super immune, I wasnāt ever that contagious despite a very dark antigen line or a combo of the two. I basically coughed in his face multiple times.
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Yeah, I think a negative test doesnāt 100% guarantee you arenāt contagious (could be that you didnāt swab your nose well, could be that viral load is creeping up but not quite over the threshhold, etc.), but a positive test pretty much does guarantee you are, if that makes sense?
And even if youāre contagious, doesnāt always mean that people exposed are guaranteed to get it! Household strike rate has never been 100%. Immune systems are wild.
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I should really know enough about the viral life cycle to figure out how much viral protein could hang out for how long after the intact virus has been destroyed but I donāt want to. Iām sick of citizen science-ing the pandemic
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SAME
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I tested negative so we donāt need to worry about it!
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So I was JUST looking all of this up. [This is the CDC guidelines right now.]
(COVID-19 Quarantine and Isolation | CDC)
If you test positive and have symptoms, you must wait til day 5 after first symptom to leave āisolationā AND you must be fever-free (without fever reducing meds) for at least 24 hours prior to leaving.
If you test positive and have no symptoms, isolation is required til day 5 after your positive test.
But regardless of your symptom level - you are advised to still wear masks around other household members and anywhere you go in public between day 5 and day 10, not travel, and take all other precautions until day 10.
If you test positive and have symptoms, you must wait til day 5 after first symptom to leave āisolationā AND you must be fever-free (without fever reducing meds) for at least 24 hours prior to leaving.
There is no requirement or mention of continuing to take tests, itās all measured from day of first symptom/first positive test.
Incidentally, Aaron was testing negative on PCRs within 4 days of first symptoms - but still testing positive on antigens for another 12 days past that.
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Oh god. 12 days??? I do not want DH to be stuck in Greece for 8 more days!!!
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He was able to use the PCR to fly home, they quite prompt in Austria, possible not the same in Greece
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Get yer free covid home tests here: Biden administration makes 8 more free Covid tests available to US households as it calls on Congress to pass additional funding - CNNPolitics
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Thanks, done
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I just pulled the trigger on ordering another batch of KF94 masks, and now Iām annoyed. Stupid masks. Stupid COVID. Stupid policies. Argh!
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