LST
Posts: 581
Joined: 9/24/2010 Status: offline
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1st of all I wish everyone to be in good health and to have a low stress, fun time. Franklin, Scott and I are happy to host @ the rental. Another wine group I belong to, Bordeaux Wine Enthusiast, is having their annual get together soon in DC. (Oct 1-3) They did the following: - request everyone be vaccinated - request rapid antigen, home test or test site (PCR) before flying out and before each event. whether it is the 2 pk BinaxNow or thru CVS/Walgreen/Amazon etc... outdoor events, and group only venues have also been added. They cite Rapid antigen testing can help ensure that nobody is infectious during the wine gatherings. Rapid antigen tests are very effective for determining when a person is infectious -- identifying 98% of infectious people. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/brie ... id-us.html Rapid antigen home test kits are in short supply, so you may need to start now to find one to bring with you. It's a 2 day routine: test, look at results, test again in 36 hrs. depending on the test it's about $25-30 for a 2 pack. They also provided locations: CVS. Several DC locations, but tend to fill up quickly. https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/covid-19-testing Another option might be to have Sameday Health come to the event(s)r and test everyone there. Likely to be more pricey: https://www.sameday-testing.com/events#booking I think that may be a bit more than some would do, but, there are options to ensure peace of mind and safety. It's about 5 weeks before we converge. It has been a highly anticipated and much needed break to try to get together again, so I am trying to temper my enthusiasm with some prudence. I defer to the organizers to make the final call, but I still plan to attend, pack up my kits, bring some bonus bottles, and get my booster before I go. I'll also closely monitor how the DC event went and "on the ground" info. here in Ca, we are in the yellow tier, rates dropping, test positivity at or below 2.5% and things are vastly improved over the past month. So there is some optimism. I also belong to a couple of groups that hack/code such as NextStrain.org and thru the UC system to sequence/track and data mine public health/lab data. The trends suggest that the current strains are not showing significant genetic drift, that Delta dominant, out competing, with back pressure on mutation,and immunity are factors, and the combined natural immunity + vaccine immunity is having a desired effect to suppress spread as there are fewer hosts, and lower viral loads with distance/masks to deter replication.
< Message edited by LST -- 9/29/2021 9:16:27 AM >
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