Jan 7, 2022·edited Jan 7, 2022Liked by John Skylar, PhD
This is another option for a reasonably priced, apparently legit KN95 mask for kids (and adults with smaller faces, too), although they currently show a 2-week lead time: https://bonafidemasks.com/powecom-kn95-sm-respirator-mask-10-masks-per-pack/ (This model is mentioned on Project N95's website but doesn't seem to be currently sold there.)
Are you aware of any guidelines about reuse of surgical/N95/KN95 masks? I've seen some guidelines published, but they all seem to be targeted at healthcare workers, not at the general public. I understand the CDC's official recommendation is "throw it away after wearing it once," but it seems like that's not necessarily a realistic recommendation for everyone when KN95/N95 masks can cost $1+ each and aren't always easy to find in stock, and might only be worn for a few minutes at a time.
Im wondering about the naming scheme. Several friends have asked whether we had enough variants that didn’t become the dominant variant to go from delta all the way to omicron. Was there a rho and and epsilon and a nu etc before omicron was named?
Ha, I just binged Succession myself. I wasn't sure I would like it at all, but it's quickly become one of my favorite current shows.
I'd love to know your thoughts on prospects for a pan-coronavirus vaccine. It's been getting a lot of buzz lately, as I'm sure you know. It seems like an important effort, less to avoid vaccine updates than to prepare for future zoonotic spillover events.
Personally, I'm not bothered by the thought of having to periodically get another COVID shot, nor is anyone in my family or social circles (at least, no one who didn't mind getting vaccinated in the first place). But I think vaccine hesitancy is going to be a big problem here. Short of mandates, which may or may not be upheld in the courts, I'm not sure what can be done about it. I also worry about the feasibility of rolling out updated vaccines to the entire world on a regular basis.
Since you referred to the home tests detecting the N protein of SARS-CoV-2, I thought I'd mention that over at Science-Based Medicine, someone mentioned that some of them instead detect the S protein, and that these are less able to detect omicron. I have no idea if that's true and they did not give a source.
Today you wrote, "If you throw enough of something sticky at a smooth surface, some of it is going to stick. Everyone has heard the cliche of throwing spaghetti at a wall to see what sticks. It is, quite literally, the entire mechanism of a booster dose in the prevention of symptomatic disease with the Omicron variant." While true, your going into more detail about antibodies here left out yet another whole level of complexity: cellular immunity. I have seen suggestions elsewhere that T-cell mediated immunity to omicron caused by (current) vaccines is not reduced to the same extent as antibody-mediated immunity. This was one paragraph in a Nature article in December, so I have no idea how valid it is (and I can't find the article now), but I thought I'd mention.
This is another option for a reasonably priced, apparently legit KN95 mask for kids (and adults with smaller faces, too), although they currently show a 2-week lead time: https://bonafidemasks.com/powecom-kn95-sm-respirator-mask-10-masks-per-pack/ (This model is mentioned on Project N95's website but doesn't seem to be currently sold there.)
Are you aware of any guidelines about reuse of surgical/N95/KN95 masks? I've seen some guidelines published, but they all seem to be targeted at healthcare workers, not at the general public. I understand the CDC's official recommendation is "throw it away after wearing it once," but it seems like that's not necessarily a realistic recommendation for everyone when KN95/N95 masks can cost $1+ each and aren't always easy to find in stock, and might only be worn for a few minutes at a time.
Im wondering about the naming scheme. Several friends have asked whether we had enough variants that didn’t become the dominant variant to go from delta all the way to omicron. Was there a rho and and epsilon and a nu etc before omicron was named?
Ha, I just binged Succession myself. I wasn't sure I would like it at all, but it's quickly become one of my favorite current shows.
I'd love to know your thoughts on prospects for a pan-coronavirus vaccine. It's been getting a lot of buzz lately, as I'm sure you know. It seems like an important effort, less to avoid vaccine updates than to prepare for future zoonotic spillover events.
Personally, I'm not bothered by the thought of having to periodically get another COVID shot, nor is anyone in my family or social circles (at least, no one who didn't mind getting vaccinated in the first place). But I think vaccine hesitancy is going to be a big problem here. Short of mandates, which may or may not be upheld in the courts, I'm not sure what can be done about it. I also worry about the feasibility of rolling out updated vaccines to the entire world on a regular basis.
Speaking of long COVID, I thought you might be interested in this Mother Jones investigation (you may have seen it already): https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/01/desperate-patients-are-shelling-out-thousands-for-a-long-covid-cure-is-it-for-real/. An unfortunate, though predictable, consequence of so many people suffering with this poorly understood set of conditions is that it creates an audience highly susceptible to cranks and grifters.
Since you referred to the home tests detecting the N protein of SARS-CoV-2, I thought I'd mention that over at Science-Based Medicine, someone mentioned that some of them instead detect the S protein, and that these are less able to detect omicron. I have no idea if that's true and they did not give a source.
Today you wrote, "If you throw enough of something sticky at a smooth surface, some of it is going to stick. Everyone has heard the cliche of throwing spaghetti at a wall to see what sticks. It is, quite literally, the entire mechanism of a booster dose in the prevention of symptomatic disease with the Omicron variant." While true, your going into more detail about antibodies here left out yet another whole level of complexity: cellular immunity. I have seen suggestions elsewhere that T-cell mediated immunity to omicron caused by (current) vaccines is not reduced to the same extent as antibody-mediated immunity. This was one paragraph in a Nature article in December, so I have no idea how valid it is (and I can't find the article now), but I thought I'd mention.