CORONAVIRUS INFO PROVIDED BY DR. JIM HARRIS – 07/29/2021
HELLO,
FROM NYT:
FROM NEJM:
Covid-19 Breakthrough Infections in Vaccinated Health Care Workers (good article to read)
BREAKTHROUGH INFECTIONS:
Among 11,453 fully vaccinated health care workers, 1497 (13.1%) underwent RT-PCR testing during the study period. Of the tested workers, 39 breakthrough cases were detected. More than 38 persons were tested for every positive case that was detected, for a test positivity of 2.6%. Thus, this percentage was much lower than the test positivity rate in Israel at the time, since the ratio between positive results and the extensive number of tests that were administered in our study was much smaller than that in the national population.
RESULTS:
“…Among 1497 fully vaccinated health care workers for whom RT-PCR data were available, 39 SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections were documented….Of the 39 cases of infection, 27 occurred in workers who were tested solely because of exposure to a person with known SARS-CoV-2 infection. Of all the workers with breakthrough infection, 26 (67%) had mild symptoms at some stage, and none required hospitalization. The remaining 13 workers (33% of all cases) were asymptomatic during the duration of infection; Neutralizing antibody titers in case patients during the peri-infection period were lower than those in matched uninfected controls …Higher peri-infection neutralizing antibody titers were associated with lower infectivity (higher Ct values). Most breakthrough cases were mild or asymptomatic, although 19% had persistent symptoms (>6 weeks). The B.1.1.7 (alpha) variant was found in 85% of samples tested. A total of 74% of case patients had a high viral load (Ct value, <30) at some point during their infection; however, of these patients, only 17 (59%) had a positive result on concurrent Ag-RDT. No secondary infections were documented.
CONCLUSIONS
Among fully vaccinated health care workers, the occurrence of breakthrough infections with SARS-CoV-2 was correlated with neutralizing antibody titers during the peri-infection period. Most breakthrough infections were mild or asymptomatic, although persistent symptoms did occur [19%]….
DISCUSSION:
“The study goal was to identify every breakthrough infection, including asymptomatic infections, that occurred during the study period among the health care workers at the center. …Of the 39 breakthrough case patients, 18 (46%) were nursing staff members, 10 (26%) were administration or maintenance workers, 6 (15%) were allied health professionals, and 5 (13%) were physicians. The average age of the 39 infected workers was 42 years, and the majority were women (64%). …In all 37 case patients for whom data were available regarding the source of infection, the suspected source was an unvaccinated person; in 21 patients (57%), this person was a household member…..At 6 weeks after their diagnosis, 19% reported having “long Covid-19” symptoms, which included a prolonged loss of smell, persistent cough, fatigue, weakness, dyspnea [breathlessness], or myalgia. Nine workers (23%) took a leave of absence from work beyond the 10 days of required quarantine; of these workers, 4 returned to work within 2 weeks. One worker had not yet returned after 6 weeks..These workers included some who had been asymptomatic and thus who had infections that would not have been detected without the rigorous screening that followed any minor known exposure. This factor suggests that at least in some cases, the vaccine protected against symptomatic disease but not against infection. However, no secondary infections were traced back to any of the breakthrough cases, which supports the inference that these workers were less contagious than unvaccinated persons,…”
(J. Harris: This readable article from Israel, discusses breakthrough cases in vaccinated health care workers, mostly with ALPHA VARIANT. In this study, about 3 % of previously vaccinated healthcare workers were found to be infected. Most of them had no or mild symptoms. 19% of the infected developed Long Covid…….When future DELTA COVID studies are available, likely, the Long Covid group will be at least if not more prevalent [than 19%] — and, if 3% of all health care workers who presumably were shielded and cautious were infected with ALPHA, how many civilians and health care workers will be infected with DELTA VARIANT? DELTA is considerably more infectious with much higher virus counts and can generate profuse viral shedding from asymptomatic non hospitalized carriers including children and family members. AND SCHOOL DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN. The way out of this pandemic is with VACCINATIONS. I agree with the current CDC recommendation to mask school children for a while. In addition, I plan to mask during the infrequent occasions that I am around crowds of unvaccinated people. Parents of school children are in a bind at present, and parents especially need to be vaccinated. It won’t be long before the vaccines are approved for the under 16 children.)
SEE ATTACHED PDF FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM JENIFER HANCOCK AND THE MARSHALL-HARRISON COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
Last but not least:
WHAT A GREAT DAY TO GO OUTSIDE AND LOOK AT YOUR PHONE
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