Rapid Covid test Would you hire?

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

7 minutes ago, purplekow said:

An escort friend of mine said he did get a Covid test mailed to him by a long time client who wanted it done before the meeting and asked that the escort bring the test with him.  

Devil's advocate:  But if traveling, what happens if COVID is caught en-route?  The negative test would mean zero.

There's always going to be risk involved, no matter how well-prepared we are.  People have to accept that.

If a client wants testing done, they can easily say so and they can provide one or reimburse.

As I continue to travel outside the States on a regular basis, I am tested very frequently.  While I'd like to think other providers would naturally do the same, it never hurts for a client to ask.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Benjamin_Nicholas

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Tygerscent said:

I order them on line by the case from Walmart~ 

Well, I guess that explains why there's a shortage of test kits in many places. I heard and read on the news today, that this country has seen its FIRST death from Omicron yesterday, in an unvaccinated man with underlying health conditions. This despite the fact that Omicron is by far the leading strain now seen in the US, a country with 332 million people. It's a miracle of science. They actually found a virus less dangerous than the common cold. Unless you're seeing a good deal of unvaccinated clients with underlying health problems, testing before each encounter is probably overkill... 😉

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/omicron-variant-accounts-73-percent-new-covid-cases-us-rcna9434

"The omicron variant has overtaken delta as the dominant coronavirus variant in the United States: As of Friday, more than 73 percent of new cases in the country were caused by omicron, according to data the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted Monday."

Edited December 22, 2021 by Unicorn

[+ Tygerscent]

2 hours ago, Unicorn said:

Well, I guess that explains why there's a shortage of test kits in many places. I heard and read on the news today, that this country has seen its FIRST death from Omicron yesterday, in an unvaccinated man with underlying health conditions. This despite the fact that Omicron is by far the leading strain now seen in the US, a country with 332 million people. It's a miracle of science. They actually found a virus less dangerous than the common cold. Unless you're seeing a good deal of unvaccinated clients with underlying health problems, testing before each encounter is probably overkill... 😉

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/omicron-variant-accounts-73-percent-new-covid-cases-us-rcna9434

"The omicron variant has overtaken delta as the dominant coronavirus variant in the United States: As of Friday, more than 73 percent of new cases in the country were caused by omicron, according to data the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted Monday."

I first found the kits in Wisconsin this past August… I thought I’d be able to get them along the west coast but, no place in the northwest, (between two states), had any available and there was nothing on Amazon~ So, I ordered them from Walmart~ 
 Omicron spread entirely fast: Nov 30th, (one day prior to my tour), it was still a thing of some other country… within one week it was in every major airport city and a few other places~ The key word on the map below, “confirmed”. Not unrealistic to consider  there were many more unconfirmed and unreported in other places~    
 In three weeks it’s the predominant variant and rapidly spreading~ 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Tygerscent

[+ purplekow]

Well Omicron or Delta, my hospital went from under 5 cases in the hospital for months to two floors filled and this time they are putting two people in a room.  The two people in a room is not a good idea as far as I am concerned as they may have different variants, but that is what is being done.   I hope the quick peak quick fall pattern of other places in the world happens here because it is getting very crowded.  Most are unvaccinated.  One woman who has refused vaccination in the past has been admitted for the third time.  Once in 2020 then early 2021 and now again in late 2021.  Stupid is as stupid does to quote Dr. Forest Gump.  

[Sixpack]

2 hours ago, purplekow said:

Well Omicron or Delta, my hospital went from under 5 cases in the hospital for months to two floors filled and this time they are putting two people in a room.  The two people in a room is not a good idea as far as I am concerned as they may have different variants, but that is what is being done.   I hope the quick peak quick fall pattern of other places in the world happens here because it is getting very crowded.  Most are unvaccinated.  One woman who has refused vaccination in the past has been admitted for the third time.  Once in 2020 then early 2021 and now again in late 2021.  Stupid is as stupid does to quote Dr. Forest Gump.  

Where are you located 

[+ purplekow]

2 hours ago, Sixpack said:

Where are you located 

At the moment I am in NJ.   

[Sixpack]

4 hours ago, purplekow said:

At the moment I am in NJ.   

Yikes I am also in NJ. What are of NJ are you in.

[Luv2play]

3 hours ago, Sixpack said:

Yikes I am also in NJ. What are of NJ are you in.

Does it really matter lol

After all, New Jersey is the 47th state in terms of geographic size and is only 79 miles wide at its widest and 166 miles in length. It doesn't get much smaller.

 

Edited December 23, 2021 by Luv2play

[+ purplekow]

7 hours ago, Luv2play said:

Does it really matter lol

After all, New Jersey is the 47th state in terms of geographic size and is only 79 miles wide at its widest and 166 miles in length. It doesn't get much smaller.

 

There are some days in the summer that you can drive from one end of Flordia the the other north and south ;faster than you can do it in NJ.  So it is not the length it is the speed.  As it is with many things.  

[Sixpack]

9 hours ago, Luv2play said:

Does it really matter lol

After all, New Jersey is the 47th state in terms of geographic size and is only 79 miles wide at its widest and 166 miles in length. It doesn't get much smaller.

 

Of course it does but if the poster wants to make a joke about a question then I can see he does not really want to help others. Bring right near nyc is much different than living in other areas.

[Luv2play]

My point was that in a small geographic area such as New Jersey, with its dense population, with the pandemic all around, it wouldn't make much difference where exactly you lived in the state.

By contrast, in Ontario where I live, the province is so large that it does make a difference where you live. It could be 1000 miles from Toronto and is still in Ontario. Same with many Canadian provinces like Quebec or British Columbia.

[Sixpack]

12 minutes ago, Luv2play said:

My point was that in a small geographic area such as New Jersey, with its dense population, with the pandemic all around, it wouldn't make much difference where exactly you lived in the state.

By contrast, in Ontario where I live, the province is so large that it does make a difference where you live. It could be 1000 miles from Toronto and is still in Ontario. Same with many Canadian provinces like Quebec or British Columbia.

Disagree as life near nyc is different than life near the end of the parkway 

[Luv2play]

Just now, Sixpack said:

Disagree as life near nyc is different than life near the end of the parkway 

Is there much variation in rates of infection in different parts of NJ?

[Sixpack]

54 minutes ago, Luv2play said:

Is there much variation in rates of infection in different parts of NJ?

There is per the Mayo Clinic 

 

[+ tassojunior]

On 12/21/2021 at 2:11 AM, Unicorn said:

But then again, NBC Nightly News said tonight that the death rate for Omicron for boosted vaccinees was 1 in a million, so maybe it's not that bad. Of course, with all the unvaxxed in the US and the extraordinary speed of spread, US hospitals could easily fill up, even at a relatively low death rate...

If NBC said it was pouring rain I'd look outside before taking an umbrella. Like everyone else they're just filling up airtime with paraphrases of the 24-hour news cycle "everyone knows that...." to look smart. 

Omicron is really too new to know yet what the mortality rate is. It takes 30 days or so to kill someone with covid and usually another week for death records. New cases seem in South Africa to have ticked down by a very few % for a week. That could be a small blip caused by reporting or uneven spread. Maybe we'll see something encouraging in another week. And in the UK there's no trend down yet at all. (The UK never did have a drastic decline in the Delta surge like other places). Let's be hopeful but a week in very unique South Africa, (that really wants air service to resume btw), is no clear sign yet. 

Here in DC with 670K people we're getting 2000 new reported cases a day this week where a week ago we were getting under 100 a day. Just from having an elderly population that means our hospitals will fill fast, doctors' offices will shut, etc causing indirect mortality. In a month we'll know better the mortality costs of this incredible surge. Till then I'll get a 4th vaccine and test every other day if possible, but assume I'll be positive at some point soon so no international flying plans for a month and a lot of binge streaming. Guys appealing the end of December won't be ugly by the end of January. And if they are it's probably old photos.

 

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by tassojunior

[Guest]

3 hours ago, tassojunior said:

...Here in DC with 670K people we're getting 2000 new reported cases a day this week where a week ago we were getting under 100 a day....

OK. So you're telling me that given that (1) reported case have gone up, by your account, 20 fold, and (2) most hospitals were designed to be filled at 80-90% capacity (prior to the pandemic, of course), and that (3) they haven't had to build mass numbers of field hospitals to accommodate the 20-fold increase in Covid-19 infections, you don't see that as an extraordinarily obvious sign that this strain of the Covid-19 virus isn't far, far less virulent/dangerous? It seems incredibly obvious to me. What exactly would it take to convince you? A 100-fold increase? (That may be coming, BTW)

Edited December 24, 2021 by Unicorn

[+ tassojunior]

1 hour ago, Unicorn said:

OK. So you're telling me that given that (1) reported case have gone up, by your account, 20 fold, and (2) most hospitals were designed to be filled at 80-90% capacity (prior to the pandemic, of course), and that (3) they haven't had to build mass numbers of field hospitals to accommodate the 20-fold increase in Covid-19 infections, you don't see that as an extraordinarily obvious sign that this strain of the Covid-19 virus isn't far, far less virulent/dangerous? It seems incredibly obvious to me. What exactly would it take to convince you? A 100-fold increase? (That may be coming, BTW)

In a week or two it may mean more but when someone first tests positive for covid they're rarely critical and the first wave of a variant is usually young healthy people who expose themselves more anyway.  In DC at least the huge numbers are because DC is giving out thousands of new tests for free everyday now and the PCR ones have the person's name and contact info. It seems Omicron just exploded this week here but it may be the thousands of new tests every day. People who formerly would have never known they had covid. But especially with sparse holiday reporting, I'd wait until we have a full month experience to start guessing how severe it is. And even if it's less severe than expected but super contagious, hospitals may be full anyway. It may surprise us for good or bad. Not a risk I'm prepared to take for a couple weeks at least. 

Edited December 24, 2021 by tassojunior

[+ tassojunior]

9 hours ago, purplekow said:

There are some days in the summer that you can drive from one end of Flordia the the other north and south ;faster than you can do it in NJ.  So it is not the length it is the speed.  As it is with many things.  

as someone who has driven the length of Florida a couple times I have a very hard time with that. 

[Sixpack]

5 hours ago, tassojunior said:

If NBC said it was pouring rain I'd look outside before taking an umbrella. Like everyone else they're just filling up airtime with paraphrases of the 24-hour news cycle "everyone knows that...." to look smart. 

Omicron is really too new to know yet what the mortality rate is. It takes 30 days or so to kill someone with covid and usually another week for death records. New cases seem in South Africa to have ticked down by a very few % for a week. That could be a small blip caused by reporting or uneven spread. Maybe we'll see something encouraging in another week. And in the UK there's no trend down yet at all. (The UK never did have a drastic decline in the Delta surge like other places). Let's be hopeful but a week in very unique South Africa, (that really wants air service to resume btw), is no clear sign yet. 

Here in DC with 670K people we're getting 2000 new reported cases a day this week where a week ago we were getting under 100 a day. Just from having an elderly population that means our hospitals will fill fast, doctors' offices will shut, etc causing indirect mortality. In a month we'll know better the mortality costs of this incredible surge. Till then I'll get a 4th vaccine and test every other day if possible, but assume I'll be positive at some point soon so no international flying plans for a month and a lot of binge streaming. Guys appealing the end of December won't be ugly by the end of January. And if they are it's probably old photos.

 

 

4th vaccine.  I got 3 Moderna doses already. My last one was in mid  August and it was the full Moderna dose not the booster. At the time the government has not approved the booster for my age group but my opinion (as I have friends at the pharmaceutical companies) is that the government waited forever to approve the boosters so I am not going to wait for the government to give the green light as they are far too slow.

 So as of now I had 3 full doses of Moderna (Jan, feb and august)

 

I plan to take the Moderna booster exactly 5 months after my august vaccine. 
 

any comments appreciated 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

10 hours ago, tassojunior said:

In a week or two it may mean more but when someone first tests positive for covid they're rarely critical and the first wave of a variant is usually young healthy people who expose themselves more anyway....

Well, deaths are a lagging indicator, hospitalization rates not so much. With a 20-fold increase in infections (I think it's fair to assume that most people get tested because they have symptoms), one would expect to see hospitalizations quickly skyrocket if it were just as serious. 

[+ tassojunior]

3 minutes ago, Unicorn said:

Well, deaths are a lagging indicator, hospitalization rates not so much. With a 20-fold increase in infections (I think it's fair to assume that most people get tested because they have symptoms), one would expect to see hospitalizations quickly skyrocket if it were just as serious. 

It's just a rational observation that the day you get covid you are not recorded as dying of it in a hospital, the lag is up to a month, and the first people to catch a surge are the youngest healthiest people who are out and about socializing more and not fragile elderly who are sequestered. I suspect once Omicron reaches the most vulnerable deaths may again surge.   

[+ tassojunior]

8 hours ago, Sixpack said:

I plan to take the Moderna booster exactly 5 months after my august vaccine. 
 

any comments appreciated 

 

 

 

 

 

exactly 3 months since my booster and I plan a 4th shot for new year's. I've read in a VA study of many thousands that the shots start to wane in over-65's especially after 100 days and by 4 months it's down considerably. I wish there was more publicity on this. it's critical info. 

Edited December 24, 2021 by tassojunior

[Sixpack]

7 minutes ago, tassojunior said:

exactly 3 months since my booster and I plan a 4th shot for new year's. I've read in a VA study of many thousands that the shots start to wane in over-65's especially after 100 days and by 4 months it's down considerably. I wish there was more publicity on this. it's critical info. 

Which booster go you think is best Pfizer or Modena. Is modern as as good as it is a 1/2 dose compared to a full dose of Pfizer?

[+ nycman]

4 hours ago, Sixpack said:

Which booster go you think is best Pfizer or Modena. Is modern as as good as it is a 1/2 dose compared to a full dose of Pfizer?

Last time I bothered to read, it was Moderna by a nose. 
But really, the winner was either mRNA vaccine by a mile.

It’s fucking amazing technology that should revolutionize all our vaccines.
If it doesn’t, your "socialist healthcare" is continuing to fuck you like they have for
the last decade that mRNA technology has been available but "too expensive".

Yes, Mary. All healthcare is socialist. Even in the good ol’ U. S. of A. 

Don’t get caught up in the 1/2 dose versus full dose, and 30 mcg versus 100 mcg crap.
Biology is the most inexact of the noble sciences and doesn’t really work that way.
More isn’t always better in the world of biology. Although sometimes it is. 

Now, about those mRNA shingles, flu, measles, mumps, polio, RSV, rubella, HPV, and hepatitis vaccines…….

[Guest]

4 hours ago, tassojunior said:

It's just a rational observation that the day you get covid you are not recorded as dying of it in a hospital, the lag is up to a month, and the first people to catch a surge are the youngest healthiest people ...

Those who are going to need hospitalization will be evident in a few days, although death is, as I said, is a lagging indicator. I'm not 100% convinced of your premise that younger people are likely to test earlier, but even if I accept as a premise that young people are twice, 3 times, or even 5 times (unlikely) more likely to get tested earlier, when you're dealing with numbers like 20X, I think the evidence is pretty plain.