Thank You for for all your updates. My husband became immunosuppressed when he started infusions for RA during the first year of COVID. Your information is very helpful in managing our lives. Most of my husband ‘s family is not vaccinated and do not plan on any vaccinations this fall for COVID ,influenza or RSV. It is heartbreaking. We are unable to attend family events because we don’t feel safe with them. 40+ years together with his family at a standstill. Really difficult to get them to understand that COVID is not just a cold for him. He looks and is healthy.And we want to keep him healthy. He recovered well with Paxlovid last year. We continue to take all precautions to prevent more COVID infections. I have had 3 siblings and a nephew who have died from COVID or other infections due to their immunosuppression. I wish more people would to take COVID seriously. And have more understanding of the immune system.I am a retired cardiopulmonary RN. I have given so much time and patience to educating my family about the immune system. But it seems to be so inconvenient for them. So much sadness and anger to manage alone.
Another moderately immunocompromised person here who appreciates your compiling and sharing information! I'm also the family biologist and responsible for translating from 'medicine' to 'human', so I use your info to counsel friends and family.
Appreciate the attempt at a forecast. :-) I can honestly say the sickness this year has been the part of being a parent of 1-year-old that I was least prepared for.
I've been trying to reset my brain to just expect to be constantly sick and appreciate the windows between sickness. A lot of this means giving myself a break for needing to take sick time (I think we have a lot of ingrained, unproductive scripts in society about how good workers don't need sick time). And also giving myself a break for not having built better social connections as a newish parent -- it just takes more time to build that community when you can't make solid plans or leave your house a good percentage of the time.
I'm typing as the skin peels off my fingers in sheets as we recover from HFM. We got about a week off between COVID-19 and HFM.
I am grateful for your analysis regarding all things virus and otherwise. I heed your advice and plan on getting all proper vaccines. Thanks for all you do!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. While I go out in public a bit more than 2020, I still wear masks indoors always and your updates remind me that I am not ”crazy” for doing so like some folks have told me I must be. Or “anxious.” Wearing masks actually helps me feel much less anxious and it is baffling why others don’t feel the same way.
I'm not prepared to make a long-range forecast. I agree with Osterholm, so my limit of prescience is about 60 days but subject to revision if we suddenly see a new variant. I do agree with your logic for RSV. I'm concerned that we'll see an earlier flu season, though, because parts of the southern hemisphere have seen that.
The data I've seen on durability of RSV immunity is mixed. It definitely declines rapidly, but grows more robust after multiple seasons. I do think some RSV immunity is retained over time, especially protection against severe illness.
That's what I've been seeing too. I'm encouraged, as well, by a durable monoclonal antibody (nirsevimab) for pediatric use and potentially for older adults. My big concern with COVID and subsequent viral infection is the increasing body of literature calling into question the effect of SARS-CoV-2 on T-cell exhaustion.
Thank You for for all your updates. My husband became immunosuppressed when he started infusions for RA during the first year of COVID. Your information is very helpful in managing our lives. Most of my husband ‘s family is not vaccinated and do not plan on any vaccinations this fall for COVID ,influenza or RSV. It is heartbreaking. We are unable to attend family events because we don’t feel safe with them. 40+ years together with his family at a standstill. Really difficult to get them to understand that COVID is not just a cold for him. He looks and is healthy.And we want to keep him healthy. He recovered well with Paxlovid last year. We continue to take all precautions to prevent more COVID infections. I have had 3 siblings and a nephew who have died from COVID or other infections due to their immunosuppression. I wish more people would to take COVID seriously. And have more understanding of the immune system.I am a retired cardiopulmonary RN. I have given so much time and patience to educating my family about the immune system. But it seems to be so inconvenient for them. So much sadness and anger to manage alone.
Another moderately immunocompromised person here who appreciates your compiling and sharing information! I'm also the family biologist and responsible for translating from 'medicine' to 'human', so I use your info to counsel friends and family.
Appreciate the attempt at a forecast. :-) I can honestly say the sickness this year has been the part of being a parent of 1-year-old that I was least prepared for.
I've been trying to reset my brain to just expect to be constantly sick and appreciate the windows between sickness. A lot of this means giving myself a break for needing to take sick time (I think we have a lot of ingrained, unproductive scripts in society about how good workers don't need sick time). And also giving myself a break for not having built better social connections as a newish parent -- it just takes more time to build that community when you can't make solid plans or leave your house a good percentage of the time.
I'm typing as the skin peels off my fingers in sheets as we recover from HFM. We got about a week off between COVID-19 and HFM.
I am grateful for your analysis regarding all things virus and otherwise. I heed your advice and plan on getting all proper vaccines. Thanks for all you do!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. While I go out in public a bit more than 2020, I still wear masks indoors always and your updates remind me that I am not ”crazy” for doing so like some folks have told me I must be. Or “anxious.” Wearing masks actually helps me feel much less anxious and it is baffling why others don’t feel the same way.
I'm not prepared to make a long-range forecast. I agree with Osterholm, so my limit of prescience is about 60 days but subject to revision if we suddenly see a new variant. I do agree with your logic for RSV. I'm concerned that we'll see an earlier flu season, though, because parts of the southern hemisphere have seen that.
The Australian chart for flu doesn't include 2020 or 2021. Was all flu counted as covid?
No. Flu in years 2020 and 2021 was so low that those years were excluded from the plot because they skewed the 5 year average.
The data I've seen on durability of RSV immunity is mixed. It definitely declines rapidly, but grows more robust after multiple seasons. I do think some RSV immunity is retained over time, especially protection against severe illness.
That's what I've been seeing too. I'm encouraged, as well, by a durable monoclonal antibody (nirsevimab) for pediatric use and potentially for older adults. My big concern with COVID and subsequent viral infection is the increasing body of literature calling into question the effect of SARS-CoV-2 on T-cell exhaustion.