What's worse, even the folks who are testing for #COVID, don't know how to test properly.

Probably because the govt is making no effort to highlight this public safety information contained in guidelines from its own regulatory agencies.

The FDA regulates #RapidResponse #COVID tests. Due to rapidtest failures with the #Omicron lineage, corrected its guidelines in SUMMER 2022.

No symptoms? (common w/ #SarsCoV2) Need to test 3x, 48hrs apart (4 days)

Symptomatic? Need to test 2x, 48 hr apart.

This means, of course, that the flimsiest of public health protections offered by the federal government - i.e., 4 free tests per household, twice a year, actually only offer enough for two complete test cycles. For a whole household. For a year. While kids are in school.

This, as a response, merely gestures at the ruins of what used to be a public health system.

Anyway, good luck wading through this byzantine FAQ purporting to inform you how to get free OTC tests.

https://www.cms.gov/how-to-get-your-at-home-otc-covid-19-test-for-free

Note that the testing regimen is at the very end, in mind-numbing legalese, & def. not geared at public education or safety:

"A negative at-⁠⁠home test result means that the test did not find the virus, & you may have a lower risk of spreading COVID-⁠⁠19 to others. Check your test’s instructions for specific next steps. If you test negative, you should test again 48 hours after your first test. Take a third test, 48 hours after the second if...you don’t have symptoms"
https://www.covid.gov/tools-and-resources/resources/tests

"If you test negative, follow the latest CDC guidance for self-⁠testing."

Here's the CDC page on that. Again, testing regimen if you get a single negative is at the BOTTOM of the page, after plenty of mind-numbing verbiage & shuttling the reader off to the next website, the FDA.

They are obfuscating "the tools" people need to protect their families.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/testing/self-testing.html#anchor_1620925514532

COVID-19 and Your Health

Symptoms, testing, what to do if sick, daily activities, and more.

^{Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}

I'm so sick of this. At the top of the page should be instructions that inform people of the supplies & the procedures they need to use to test for #COVID.

"If you have no symptoms: The FDA, which certifies these tests, has determined that the proper way to test, is to use 3 rapid response tests, waiting 48 hours between each test.

If you have symptoms: The FDA, which certifies these tests, has determined that they are only sufficient if you take two tests, waiting 48 hours between each test."

ofc they don't want to write any such thing, because then people might *think* about the fact that the head of the World Health Organization just emphasized that we are all still in the middle of the #COVID #pandemic.

And that in fact, copies of the #SARSCOV2 virus are now spread more widely, and infecting more people, than at any point during the pandemic except for the quadruple peak of winter 2021-22.

Please wear your #N95 & protect yourself & others. Reinfections cause worse damage.

[Furthermore, inviting people to "Check your test’s instructions for specific next steps" and rely on that - when the government is sending out expired tests to us that were manufactured before the FDA changed its guidelines to require multiple tests? COME. ON. This is horrible, horrible sneaky stuff in my opinion.

Just tell people what they need to do. Education.

Here's the FDA in 2022, "alerting" of the need to use 2-3 tests (needlessly terming it "serial testing"): https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/home-covid-19-antigen-tests-take-steps-reduce-your-risk-false-negative-results-fda-safety

At-Home COVID-19 Antigen Tests-Take Steps to Reduce Your Risk of False Negative Results: FDA Safety Communication

The FDA recommends repeat testing following a negative result to reduce the risk that a COVID-19 infection could be missed, whether or not you have symptoms.

^{Center for Devices and Radiological Health (FDA)}

1/3 of us - of all Americans - will have had a new COVID infection by the end of this wave.

That's a lot of damage.

For many of us, it will be a 2nd, 3rd, 4th infection.

The research on the serious damage from repeat infections is damning, & piles up weekly.

"cumulative risks & burdens of repeat infection increased according to the number of infections...Reducing overall burden of death & disease due to #SarsCoV2 will require strategies for reinfection prevention."
https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity/transmission/2023/12/27/every-covid-infection-increases-your-risk-of-long-covid-study-warns/

h/t @DenisCOVIDinfoguy
"Researchers from Amsterdam UMC & Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) have discovered that the persistent fatigue in patients with long-COVID [is caused by] mitochondria in muscle cells that produce less energy than in healthy patients. "We're seeing clear changes in the muscles in these patients""

Participants told to cycle for 15m. That "caused a long-term worsening of symptoms in people with long-COVID, called post-exertional malaise (PEM)"

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20240104/Study-identifies-mitochondrial-dysfunction-as-cause-of-long-COVID-fatigue.aspx

Study identifies mitochondrial dysfunction as cause of long-COVID fatigue

Researchers from Amsterdam UMC and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) have discovered that the persistent fatigue in patients with long-COVID has a biological cause, namely mitochondria in muscle cells that produce less energy than in healthy patients…

^{News-Medical.net}

So...Palo Alto virus levels in wastewater are *the highest they've ever been* - including the giant Omicron wave in winter 2021-22.

Palo Alto's not going to be the only place this is true.

+I don't think predictions are adequately accounting for the fact that most kids went back to school today - bringing their family's holiday infections with them. That's going to infect a lot more of us. People no longer care about infecting their friends & neighbors. Terrible timing.
https://progressives.social/@covidsewage@simonwillison.net/111720703453967221

covidsewage

2024-01-08 14:04:07

Latest Covid sewage charts for the SF Bay Area https://covid19.sccgov.org/dashboard-wastewater