Covid-19 variants and rapid testing
2021 October 08 20:09 winksaville 2303¤ 285¤
From UCSF - "An Evolutionary Biologist Looks at Variants, and the Role of Rapid Testing in Covid"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWDGNrOqQfQ
I suggest watching the entire video, but if you have only a few minutes then start here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWDGNrOqQfQ&t=2990s) and watch as much as you have time for. If you don't want to watch anything the three takeaways:
1) There will be variants but probably/maybe the variants will not be worse than the Delta strain, and if we're lucky overtime variants might become less virulent.
2) Rapid Antigen tests are far superior to PCR tests for stopping the spread. The reason is that the 15-30min Antigen test can detect when your are infectious, approximately 3 days, and is negative when you are not infectious.
3) Your vaccination status is not relevant to testing as everyone can be infectious, thus everyone should be tested.
Introductory text:
This week, we cover two crucial issues in Covid: variants and testing. The highly infectious Delta variant has been responsible for changing the trajectory of Covid over the past six months. In the first segment, evolutionary biologist Paul Turner of Yale will describe how and why variants happen, whether Delta was a surprise, and what the future may hold in terms of additional variants. In the second segment, Harvard epidemiologist Michael Mina returns to Medical Grand Rounds. Mina is the nation’s most prominent advocate for focusing on testing as a key prevention and mitigation strategy. In the past few months, his calls have generated significant traction in the Biden administration. We’ll discuss the role of testing – particularly rapid testing – in creating safe spaces in businesses and schools, and where testing fits into our overall Covid strategy. The session is moderated by UCSF Department of Medicine Chair Bob Wachter.
TOC: - Introduction, Bob Wachter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWDGNrOqQfQ - How and Why Variants happen, Dr Turner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWDGNrOqQfQ&t=314s - Q/A with Dr Truner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWDGNrOqQfQ&t=1266s - The Role of Testing, Dr Mina: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWDGNrOqQfQ&t=1983s - Closing, Bob Wachter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWDGNrOqQfQ&t=4023s
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2021 October 12 13:55 kaxline 281¤ 290¤
Thanks for this! Do you happen to know more about still being infectious while you're vaccinated? Any links that you've found on that?
I've heard that most, if not all, other vaccines prevent or curtail infectiousness, but have never seen anything definitive one way or another.
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2021 October 15 14:56 stuartscott 492¤ 88¤
The key point is that a vaccine won't stop you getting infected, but once you do get infected your immune system is better prepared and is able to fight back more quickly and effectively.
Covid-19, and the Delta variant in particular, reproduces so quickly that there is a short period where even the vaccinated population are infectious. In the parent video Dr Mina says a vaccinated person with Delta is actually more infectious than an unvaccinated person with the original Wuhan virus.
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2021 October 15 17:51 kaxline 173¤ 4¤
Yikes, this is information that should be at the top of every newspaper. Of course it will just be politicized and conspiratorialized. But this changes my behavior for sure.
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