A large proportion of the attendees at FilkCONtinental last weekend got
COVID. I've heard estimates from a quarter to a third. Every precaution
was taken; vaccination and daily testing was required, and people wore
masks. There were other groups in the same youth hostel in Wernigerode,
and everyone ate in the same area.

So far I haven't heard of anyone with a really bad case.
--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

On 10/7/22 13:34, Gary McGath wrote:
> A large proportion of the attendees at FilkCONtinental last weekend got
> COVID. I've heard estimates from a quarter to a third. Every precaution
> was taken; vaccination and daily testing was required, and people wore
> masks. There were other groups in the same youth hostel in Wernigerode,
> and everyone ate in the same area.
>
> So far I haven't heard of anyone with a really bad case.

Oh wow. Best wishes for speedy recoveries to all involved.

Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> writes:
> A large proportion of the attendees at FilkCONtinental last weekend
> got COVID. I've heard estimates from a quarter to a third. Every
> precaution was taken; vaccination and daily testing was required, and
> people wore masks.

I'm sad to hear this, and hope for quick and complete recovery for
everyone. The most important precautions don't seem to get much
attention, and those are ventilation and air filtration. See:

https://lbourouiba.mit.edu/image-gallery/heathy-teaching

about how to set that up for a classroom.

On 10/7/22 5:28 PM, Paul Rubin wrote:
> Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> writes:
>> A large proportion of the attendees at FilkCONtinental last weekend
>> got COVID. I've heard estimates from a quarter to a third. Every
>> precaution was taken; vaccination and daily testing was required, and
>> people wore masks.
>
> I'm sad to hear this, and hope for quick and complete recovery for
> everyone. The most important precautions don't seem to get much
> attention, and those are ventilation and air filtration. See:
>
> https://lbourouiba.mit.edu/image-gallery/heathy-teaching
>
> about how to set that up for a classroom.

Agreed on that, but it's often hard for conventions to control
ventilation. Germans are, when they can be, bigger on open windows than
we are in the US. I recall times in the Freusburg when they kept the
windows open even though it made the room chilly.

Another possible factor is that the Omicron booster isn't as easy to get
in Germany and the UK as it is in the US. If you're under 60 and not
immunocompromised, it can be hard to find a doctor who will give you the
shot.

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

A harper tells me that Paul Rubin said:
> I'm sad to hear this, and hope for quick and complete recovery for
> everyone. The most important precautions don't seem to get much
> attention, and those are ventilation and air filtration. See:
>
> https://lbourouiba.mit.edu/image-gallery/heathy-teaching
>
> about how to set that up for a classroom.

The main programme room wasn't too badly ventilated, but the rooms used
for late night filking were harder to ventilate without also making the
room a mite chilly. The high winds and heavy rain at times didn't help,
as windows had to be closed to keep the rain out...

I'm aware of 27 positives so far.

A "test every morning" policy only really stands a chance if the tests
can be relied upon to detect cases very early in the infectious stage.
With some of the variants currently active, that would not seem to be
the case. Sometimes, tests have turned positive before symptoms
developed, but some people developed (mostly mild cold-like rather than
flu-like or classic COVID) symptoms while continuing to test negative,
and only started getting positive tests two or three days after the
onset of those symptoms.

Fingers crossed, thumbs pressed, that nobody develops a severe case.

--
...Rick Hewett http://www.hewett.org/

rick@chui.private (Rick Hewett) writes:
> but the rooms used for late night filking were harder to ventilate
> without also making the room a mite chilly

HEPA or equivalent air filtration also helps remove the virus from the
air. One of the big tragedies of the whole pandemic has been health
authorities refusal to recognize airborne transmission.

I wonder if anyone had a CO2 monitor in the late night rooms: CO2 in the
air above background levels means it is in air that someone exhaled, so
it is a decent measure of whether more ventilation is needed.

> A "test every morning" policy only really stands a chance

Unfortunately, Omicron isn't always detected by rapid antigen tests:
the infection may have to be pretty far along before the test picks
it up. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00430-022-00730-z

> Fingers crossed, thumbs pressed, that nobody develops a severe case.

Even mild cases can result in very persistent and unfortunate symptoms
aka long covid. Let's keep fingers AND toes crossed, to handle both
possibilities. :(

On 10/8/22 5:28 PM, Paul Rubin wrote:
> Even mild cases can result in very persistent and unfortunate symptoms
> aka long covid. Let's keep fingers AND toes crossed, to handle both
> possibilities. :(

While I have no medical expertise, I think the popular term "long COVID"
is confusing. The virus doesn't remain lurking to reactivate later, as
happens with some other conditions.

I don't think anyone knows yet quite how it works, but we know that
COVID can hurt the nervous system (long-term loss of taste or smell),
and it may do damage to other parts of the body that results in greater
long-term risks. Statistics showing excess mortality support this notion
but don't tell us how it happens.

Spencer Love got hit with an especially nasty case. I've only learned
about it by word of mouth from one person, but I assume that that much
is true.

Hopefully medical researchers will discover some treatment that people
with COVID can take to reduce this damage.

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> writes:
> While I have no medical expertise, I think the popular term "long
> COVID" is confusing. The virus doesn't remain lurking to reactivate
> later, as happens with some other conditions.

It isn't really clear, and as you say, there are a lot of unknowns.
This mentions the possibility of lurking viral reservoirs, I think:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-021-01104-y

> Spencer Love got hit with an especially nasty case.

I'm sorry to hear that :(. I remember him from way back.

> Hopefully medical researchers will discover some treatment that people
> with COVID can take to reduce this damage.

I think some incremental progress is being made, at least with some
facets of the syndrome. I have collecting some links on and off and can
send you what I have if you want, but the file is a disorganized mess.